Bioenvironmental Engineering (BEE) Block 10 Practice Exam

In bioaerosol monitoring, the key is to collect airborne microorganisms with devices that capture viable organisms so they can be quantified. The Anderson impactor and SKC biosampler are classic tools designed for this purpose. The Anderson impactor uses impaction across multiple stages to deposit particles onto nutrient agar plates, allowing you to count colonies and determine how many viable organisms are present by size range. The SKC biosampler collects organisms into a liquid medium, which helps preserve viability and permits direct counting or further analysis of the collected microbes. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry are analytical techniques used to identify and quantify chemicals, often after a sample has been collected and prepared. They aren’t sampling devices for collecting bioaerosols in air. Infrared spectroscopy is another analytical method that characterizes chemical signatures, typically requiring prepared samples rather than serving as a direct method to capture airborne microorganisms.