system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do activated carbon filters work?
gpt
Basically the carbon has tiny tiny pores that pull things out of water/air/etc via what's called the van der waals force. Different base materials (coconut, wood, animal bone) result in different size pores which are used in different applications depending on the medium and what you're trying to filter out.