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The Conversation USA

Why do smoke alarms keep going off even when there's no smoke?

  • Written by MVS Chandrashekhar, Assistant professor of electrical engineering, University of South Carolina
imageSensors in smoke detectors monitor how particles in the air affect a flow of current to the batteryGarrett Aitken/iStock via Getty Images

Editor’s note: MVS Chandrashekhar is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Carolina. In this interview, he explains how smoke detectors work and why they sometimes sound an alarm...

Read more: Why do smoke alarms keep going off even when there's no smoke?

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