Rachel Haywood    scientist, writer, artist and singer  
     
       
             
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Ezzy the Virus 

Ezzy really cannot understand why humans keep trying to kill him. He has a big smile and is great fun, but unfortunately he always goes too far in trying to make a home for himself.

    
This is my first book to write serious science at a level young children can understand. The minute size of Ezzy is compared with other airborne particles like pollen grains and dust. I show how Ezzy makes copies of himself and which he spreads everywhere by making a human sneeze, and how Ezzy can be killed by sunlight, detergents and the human immune system if he settles in too long. Ezzy is very difficult for humans to get rid of since he settles on surfaces and floats in the air, which makes it very easy to jump from human to human in their houses and spaces where they like to eat and enjoy themselves. Ezzy although likeable is deadly to humans making them ill, and sometimes he can kill them.

https://tslbooks.uk/product/ezzy-the-virus-rachel-haywood/

Musician and Author, Ezra Williams, allowed me to use his 'childhood face' to create Ezzy. Click this link to hear Ezra talking about Ezzy the Virus and his own books...

I made this calculation at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, before scientists realised how much Covid transmission occurs via aerosols. It is the reason why I wrote 'Ezzy The Virus'

A single cough can contain 200 million virus particles (reference livescience.com). In a volume 1 meter cubed this could mean 200 million virus particles per metre cubed which translates in a room 2 x 2 x 2 meters (or 8 meters cubed) there will be 25 million virus particles in a 1 meters cubed space. In a bigger room 4 meters wide and height (4 x 4 x 4 or 64 meters cubed) there will be an estimated 3 million virus particles in a 1 meter cubed area. In other words if someone just coughs on the other side of a large room (without catching the virus particles in a tissue) then it is possible that everyone in the room will be exposed to air containing 3 million virus particles.