The problems there were a lot more severe than airborne particulates though. One of the big problems was the chlorine compounds turning into phosgene. That isn't something that would be picked up by a detector like this.

Airborne particulates are generally good for getting an idea of general pollution levels. As well as being directly harmful, they often come from sources that produce other air pollutants.

One of the nasty things about the east Palestine crash was that the burning vinyl chloride produced specific hazardous compounds that were worse than just an airborne particulate count would suggest.

You actually can get phosgene detectors, but they cost a lot. Maybe clubbing together and getting one for a community might be more realistic, and then you can go around and check everyone's properties.

Yes! Thank you! It drives me barmy when people seem to think you're getting the power from the potato, rather than a copper and zinc strip reacting. It's just a salt bridge. It's not the source of the energy. +

Obligatory "it wasn't that socrates" but...

This is a particularly good way to approach tidying somewhere that's really messy and disorganised. Focus on where items should go. Often mess results from never sorting out proper places to put stuff. Once everything has a 'home', tidying up gets way easier.