Belief of houseplants as nature's air purifiers

The belief that houseplants will purify your home has been around for decades. There is a well known study by Nasa in the 1980's that has been referenced in many discussions about houseplants. The plant facts that were discussed in this study were on a large scale and not representative of how many plants an average person would have in their living room. The amount of plants in NASA's scale would be equal to around 40 bonsai trees in a typical size bedroom to give you the same air purification effects from a good quality Ventilation unit within a single day.

People still continue to buy the houseplants though all because of this belief. One popular plant amongst them is the snake plant. That plant can tolerate a serious level of neglect and with good care it can thrive for years, and that's probably why people prefer that a lot.

I had a snake plant on a shelf for three years. The shelf had no direct sunlight. I watered the snake plant whenever I remembered to. It looked exactly the same in three years as it did on the day I bought it, in the black plastic pot. There was no growth or death, just continued to be there and be ok.

The phrase Air Purifying sounds like good science so few people question the truth about it. They say the spider plant purifies formaldehyde. In a bedroom that is 12 x 14 with a cracked window and a ceiling fan operating, the calculations are definitely not accurate but the plant looks nice, so that might be the reason people continue to buy them.

There is something about the nature of plant life that is not necessarily related to the air you breathe or chemicals. It is nice to have something living in your home besides you or another person, which is why people also like pets too.