Acidifying the air may protect against covid
A soupçon of nitric acid could do the trick
In China, one sign a respiratory disease is doing the rounds is a rise in sales of vinegar. Folk medicine says that when you boil it, the acetic-acid-rich fumes clear the air of whatever nastiness is bringing on the cough. And there may be a grain of truth in this belief, for one sure way to render airborne viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, the cause of covid-19, harmless, is to make the droplets of fluid which carry them more acidic.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Acid drops”
From the January 7th 2023 edition
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