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I have seen many examples of air conditioning units that claim they can emit Vitamin C, D, E, etc.

For example, taken from a Gizmodo article:

Fujitsu have again come up with another world first, by incorporating a revolutionary Vitamin C emission filter into these new models scheduled for a Japanese release this August (August 21st).

Is this actually true? How can an air conditioner create vitamins out of the air?

And finally is there really any benefits on breathing vitamins?

Sonny Ordell
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er_tomas
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  • Googling for this claim seems to indicate that these devices are supplied with the vitamins in a consumable component such as the air filter, rather than somehow "creating" them. No idea on the health claims. – Random832 Mar 29 '12 at 19:26
  • They can emit vitamins but cannot create them. Just like a humidifier does not create water, it simply emits water vapor after being provided a supply of water. – Sparr Mar 29 '12 at 19:29
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    [Welcome to Skeptics](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users)! Could you please [link and quote](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/882/what-are-the-attributes-of-a-good-question/883#883) some examples of those adverts? – Oddthinking Mar 30 '12 at 00:30
  • The latest advert I recall is from a OEM branded split air conditioner and I cannot find a website for it :( – er_tomas Mar 30 '12 at 19:05

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The air conditioner does not create the Vitamin C. Ascorbic Acid is stored in some kind of material, comes to the surface in a defined way, and is carried with the air. The filters / dispensers have to be replaced when they are empty.

I could not find any references to the actual replacement parts. Some info about the Nissan system is here. Interestingly enough, they say Vitamin D and E are too heavy to carry in air. Vitamin C weighs 176,13 g·mol−1, D&E more than twice as much.

Siemens manages to make their information about the dispersed amount of Vitamin C quite unfathomable. They say it can reach up to 0.65 mg/l of Vitamin C in air. 20°C air holds about 20mg/l of water at 100% humidity, making about 10mg/l at normal household humidity of 50-ish %. So 6.5% of humidity is available as Vitamin C. Also, the unit delivers about 800 m^3 / hour. This does not quite add up: about half a kilo of Vitamin C per hour.

From what little the companies divulge, it seems to be possible to dispense amounts of Vitamin C about as heavy as the truth in these papers into the air, which then might get absorbed by a human body before being lost.

alwaysask
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  • Hello and welcome to our site. Please read our introductory post here: http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users. Your answer needs a bit of referencing regarding the efficacy of the vitamin infused conditioned air. – Sklivvz Mar 29 '12 at 20:36
  • Well, couldn't find a sliver of evidence for or against it. So I decided against mentioning. – alwaysask Mar 29 '12 at 20:42
  • "which then might get absorbed by a human body before being lost." -- sorry I misread this :-) – Sklivvz Mar 29 '12 at 20:45