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Published June 1, 1993 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Probing the Chemical Dynamics of Aerosols

Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols are complex mixtures of particles emitted into the atmosphere and secondary particles formed as a result of gas-phase chemical reactions. Secondary aerosols are formed by condensation of the products of gas-phase reactions onto particle surfaces or by homogeneous nucleation. Particle formation and growth are often very rapid; this rapidity places severe demands on the instrumentation used to monitor the aerosol evolution. These demands are particularly evident in smog chamber studies that are designed to elucidate the fundamental processes that take place in the atmosphere. Many reacting systems produce several condensible species; this situation further complicates the analysis of aerosol formation and growth. This chapter reviews the present aerosol instrumentation available and gives results from smog chamber studies, showing some of the recent advances that are helping further the understanding of atmospheric aerosol chemical dynamics. Examples from smog chamber studies are used to illustrate needed improvements in instrumentation for following the evolution of the composition and size distributions of atmospheric aerosols.

Additional Information

© 1993 American Chemical Society. Received for review May 30, 1992. Accepted revised manuscript August 10, 1992. Published in print 1 June 1993. This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant ATM-9003186.

Additional details

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August 20, 2023
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January 14, 2024