Editing Smoke (section)

===Visible and invisible particles of combustion===
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Wildfiretopanga.jpg|thumb|Smoke from a [[wildfire]]]]
[[File:Muizenberg Mountian Fires in Cape Town of 2015.jpg|thumbnail|Smoke rising up from the smoldering remains of a recently extingished mountain fire in South Africa]]
The [[naked eye]] detects particle sizes greater than 7&nbsp;μm ([[micrometres]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=How small can the naked eye see? |url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-small-can-the-naked-eye-see |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=www.sciencefocus.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Visibility|Visible]] particles emitted from a fire are referred to as smoke. [[Invisibility|Invisible]] particles are generally referred to as gas or fumes. This is best illustrated when [[Toast (food)|toast]]ing bread in a toaster. As the bread heats up, the products of combustion increase in size. The fumes initially produced are invisible but become visible if the toast is burnt.

An [[ionization chamber]] type [[smoke detector]] is technically a product of combustion detector, not a smoke detector. Ionization chamber type smoke detectors detect particles of combustion that are invisible to the naked eye. This explains why they may frequently [[false alarm]] from the fumes emitted from the red-hot heating elements of a toaster, before the presence of visible smoke, yet they may fail to activate in the early, low-heat [[smoldering]] stage of a fire.

Smoke from a typical house fire contains hundreds of different chemicals and fumes. As a result, the damage caused by the smoke can often exceed that caused by the actual heat of the fire. In addition to the physical damage caused by the smoke of a [[fire]] – which manifests itself in the form of stains – is the often even harder to eliminate problem of a smoky odor. Just as there are contractors that specialize in rebuilding/repairing homes that have been damaged by fire and smoke, [[fabric restoration]] companies specialize in restoring fabrics that have been damaged in a fire.