Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Atmospheric Science
Committee Chair
Shanhu Lee
Committee Member
Kevin Knupp
Committee Member
Arastoo Pour Biazar
Subject(s)
Nucleation, Particles, Aerosols, Sulfuric acid
Abstract
New particle formation (NPF) consists of two steps: nucleation and growth. At present, mechanisms governing these processes are not well understood. Here, we report results obtained from the TANGENT (Tandem Aerosol Nucleation and Growth Environment Tube) experiments. The TANGENT apparatus enables us to study these processes independently. Our results show that lower temperatures enhance both the nucleation and growth rate of sulfuric acid particles. However, at temperatures below 268 K the effects of temperature on the nucleation rate become less significant, indicating that particle formation takes place via barrierless nucleation at lower temperatures. We examined the growth of newly formed particles under differing temperature conditions for nucleation and growth. Our results show that newly nucleated clusters formed at low temperatures can survive evaporation and grow in a warmer environment in the presence of SO2 and ozone, implying that some heterogeneous reactions involving nanoparticles affect their growth.
Recommended Citation
Tiszenkel, Lee, "Temperature effects on sulfuric acid aerosol nucleation and growth : initial results from the TANGENT study" (2019). Theses. 275.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/275