What is the cleanest place on Earth?

If you guessed a room where semiconductors are made, you’d probably be right.

A microchip factory has to be exceptionally clean to avoid introducing contamination into the chip-making process. In fact, the air in their “cleanrooms” is filtered to be vastly cleaner than that of a sterile hospital operating room.

Anything that sheds particles must be avoided in a microchip cleanroom. Contaminants include human hair, dead skin cells, makeup, bacteria, and even micro-dust from pencils or paper.

So semiconductor workers must wear head-to-toe “bunny suits,” protective glasses, booties, hoods, face masks, and two pairs of gloves. These suits may include self-contained HEPA filter packs, because even human breath contains contaminants.

Let’s assume that I arrived one morning at a microchip factory as a new employee.

Let’s say I told the supervisor that I’d cleaned myself diligently in the shower that morning, washed my hair twice, gargled with Listerine, scrubbed my hands with bleach, and put on brand-new clothes. I was certain that I was clean enough to enter the factory.

The supervisor would say, “Hold your horses, Lori. You still have to put on a protective covering before you can come into the cleanroom.”

I might argue, “But I’m already cleaner than 95% of other people. I don’t need a covering. Let me in!”

My boss would say, “I’m sorry, but you’re not as clean as you think you are. We have very high standards here. You have to suit up first.”

Isn’t that sort of what entering Heaven is like?

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