Virus Particles

An animated image of an HIV virion.

I am taking a course in microbiology this semester. I saw a movie about a virus epidemic and I became mindful that the amount of time that a virus particle hangs in the air is dependent of the diameter and density of the particle.After running the calculations below on the common influenza virus, I determined that a virus particle would take 149 days to settle out of room air from a height of 6 feet in a poorly ventilated room. I gathered data from the CDC to determine the density and diameter of a common influenza virion. I used a height of 6 feet because that is the height a virion would enter the air if a person were to sneeze.