Estimaci\'on de la trayectoria de coronavirus covid-19 adheridas a gotitas respiratorias proyectados horizontalmente, considerando la altitud geogr\'afica

TL;DR

This study models the trajectory of COVID-19 respiratory droplets considering particle size, airflow, and geographical altitude, revealing minimal impact of altitude on droplet movement.

Contribution

It introduces a method to estimate respiratory droplet trajectories incorporating altitude effects, based on physical laws and graphical data analysis.

Findings

Respiratory droplets smaller than 10 μm float for seconds before evaporating.

Droplets from a sneeze can reach over 1.7 meters within 2 seconds.

Geographical altitude has minimal effect on droplet kinematics.

Abstract

This study deals with the estimation of the trajectory of coronavirus COVID-19 adhering to respiratory droplets projected horizontally, considering the geographical altitude. The size of viruses and respiratory droplets is the factor that determines the trajectory of the microparticles in a viscous medium such as air; For this purpose, a graphical comparison of the diameters and masses of the microparticles produced in respiratory activity has been made. The estimation of the vertical movement of the microparticles through the air is based on Stokes' Law, it was determined that respiratory droplets smaller than 10 {\mu}m in diameter have very small speeds, in practice they are floating for a few seconds before evaporating in the air; Regarding the horizontal displacement of respiratory droplets, frames from Scharfman et al. to determine its scope. In the case of a sneeze, the respiratory droplets can reach a distance of 1.65 m in 1 s, stopping rapidly until reaching 1.71 m in 2 seconds, then an analysis of the effect of geographical altitude on the movement of the micro-droplets was made, determining minimal change in kinematic variables.