SmART-Form
smart-form

**Smartphone App for Residential Testing of Formaldehyde (SmART-Form): a community science effort to measure formaldehyde in the home environment.** ### Project Basics The main goal of this project is to design a low-cost, accessible system for measuring formaldehyde concentrations in residential environments. We'll accomplish this using emerging technology involving novel chemical reaction harnessing and color intensity algorithms created for a smartphone app. There are two main components involved in the detection system: * The BADGE has a reactive surface, to be unwrapped and placed in the home for 72 hours, during which time in changes color if there is formaldehyde present (this is developed and manufactured by Morphix Technologies). * The APP contains a function to quantify the color-change of the badge, and relate that intensity of color-change to an airborne formaldehyde concentration (this is led by Ohio State University); see https://github.com/publiclab/SmART-Form. You can download the beta versions of the app for [Andriod ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.osu.siyang.smartform&hl=en)and [iPhone](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smart-form/id1259194780?mt=8). ### Next up: Community testing This formaldehyde detection system is ready to be tested by community members! The first place we'll engage folks to test this badge + app system is in Ware County, Georgia. This community case study will serve a dual purpose, of exploring whether or not this system is useful and has potential for broad uptake by communities with potential formaldehyde exposures, and of investigating formaldehyde concentrations within and among different neighborhoods in Ware County and possible factors contributing to those formaldehyde concentrations. **** To see the latest progress on this project, please search the [tag “smart-form”](/tag/smart-form). To receive updates on this project, click the button labelled `Follow smart-form` on that page. **** #### Questions [questions:smart-form] **** #### Activities [activities:smart-form] ### Who is working on this? The SmART-Form project is a collaboration among researchers at Ohio State University, the Building Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratory at Syracuse University, and Public Lab. ### Project Background This project is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. More information about the grant and scoping of this project can be found in [this research note](https://publiclab.org/notes/nshapiro/10-17-2016/public-lab-awarded-nsf-funding-to-help-develop-low-cost-community-formaldehyde-monitoring-technique) by Open Air Fellow Nick Shapiro. The first project report can be found in [this research note](https://publiclab.org/notes/nshapiro/09-04-2017/smartphone-app-for-residential-testing-of-formaldehyde-smart-form-interim-report). More information about the development of the app's user interface can be found [here](https://publiclab.org/notes/nshapiro/01-23-2018/refining-the-user-interface-of-a-community-science-app) and addition app information can be found on [Ohio State University’s SmART-Form page](https://u.osu.edu/smartform/). ### Indoor formaldehyde Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable gas that can have significant health impacts. Formaldehyde is a common component in adhesives and resins used frequently in building materials, and is found in many household products including cosmetics and detergents. Exposure to formaldehyde can result in respiratory irritation, headaches, and nausea, and chronic exposure can be carcinogenic. For a quick summary of formaldehyde exposure basics, please see the [ASTDR’s ToxFAQs for Formaldehyde](https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/TF.asp?id=219&tid=39). For much more in-depth information, please see the [ASTDR’s Toxicological Profile for Formaldehyde](https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=220&tid=39). ### Regulating and remediating indoor formaldehyde Residential indoor and outdoor ambient air formaldehyde are not regulated in the United States. With known severe health impacts, it is important that people be able to monitor and mitigate their own exposure to formaldehyde, especially as we cannot rely on a regulatory body to do so. In this project, we are developing a free smartphone application that will read a low-cost colorimetric formaldehyde sensor (developed by Morphix Technologies) to quantify the concentration of formaldehyde in the air. Our goal is to create an accessible way for individuals to assess their exposure to formaldehyde. [Other ongoing projects](https://publiclab.org/wiki/diy-indoor-air-quality-remediation-kit) seek to develop accessible formaldehyde remediation potential. ...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
cfastie "Liz, I don't know the specs of the 1/4" phone plug, but it needs only two contacts, the tip and one ring along the shaft. I'm not sure which types ..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
warren "Thanks to all the software contributors who helped fix that -- @siaw23 @sagarpreet " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
warren "OK - links and uploads now working again on the site! " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
liz "wow awesome! @cfastie sorry to ask more but can you draw a picture on paper of what you expect these cables to look like? "A 1/4" stereo/phone plug..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
zengirl2 "@cfastie @warren ah, ok that makes sense now. " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
warren "https://gist.github.com/jywarren/599b76ef9cdecdce764a7348f728ae31 " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
warren "We're still struggling with a comment formatting bug -- apologies -- over in https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/pull/2605 -- here it is for the ti..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
cfastie "New answer below where I could attach a file. " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
cfastie "A 1/4" stereo/phone plug connects to the HCHO sensor and two wires from that cable connect to the Arduino (tip of plug to A3, ring to GND). Below (..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
zengirl2 "@liz I can meet with @nshapiro with some Arduinos, but I think my question is where do you attach alligator clips or wires for testing this beast? " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
liz "Perhaps @Zengirl2 can go over the Nick's house and bring an Arduino? (They are both in Philly) and for good measure we can open up a video link wit..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
cfastie "The first step might be to arrange for the co-location of the HCHO sensor, an Arduino, and somebody casually familiar with Arduino. Has the proper ..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
liz "Hi @cfastie -- thank you so much for asking these questions. Here's what i know -- Nick has to go to Georgia with a working solution in 2 weeks...." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
cfastie "Kina, Thanks for the great information. Liz, It might help to know more about this project. What is the time frame for deployment? What has been tr..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
liz "Please give me a call at +1 336-269-1539 " | Read more » almost 6 years ago
liz "OK awesome @kinasmith and @cfastie ! What would be helpful for me to do as a facilitator to help Nick get all the way there? Here's some ideas: 1) ..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
kinasmith "this is actually an excellent solution to this problem without adding additional parts/complexity. The 1.1v internal reference is much more stable ..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
kinasmith "I'll just chime in here for a second as someone who has worked a lot with arduino dataloggers and ADC's, etc. I agree with @cfastie on all points...." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
Bronwen "Apologies for the mass tagging here, I know a lot of you have been in the mix providing great support and advice so far, but if anyone feels they h..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
cfastie "There is a very simple way to read the HCHO sensor with a resolution of about 10 ppb, assuming the range of the sensor is 0 to 1000ppb. (Out of the..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
Alastair_ "8-Bit resolution is fine i'd think, you just need to amplify the signal. Any first year electrical engineering student worth her salt can design th..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
warren "I'd like to try to get input from some of the many people at http://publiclab.org/contributors/datalogger who have almost certainly interfaced thei..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
nshapiro "Thanks so much, Chris! So it does look like the relationship is linear between output and ppb. here is what a friend writes who has used this tool ..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago
zengirl2 "Unfortunately this is out of my league. You might try posting on Adafruit's forum asking about signal, but they won't be able to speak for the sens..." | Read more » almost 6 years ago