Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
www.atmos-chem-phys.net
1680-7316
1680-7324
7
19
2007
10.5194/acp-7-5263-2007
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/5263/2007/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/5263/2007/acp-7-5263-2007.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/5263/2007/acp-7-5263-2007.pdf
5263
5274
2007-10-12
Inferring thermodynamic properties from CCN activation experiments: single-component and binary aerosols
L. T. Padró
A. Asa-Awuku
R. Morrison
A. Nenes
nenes@eas.gatech.edu
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
now at: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
This study presents a new method, Köhler Theory Analysis (KTA), to infer
the molar volume and solubility of organic aerosol constituents. The method
is based on measurements of surface tension, chemical composition, and CCN
activity coupled with Köhler theory. KTA is evaluated by inferring the
molar volume of six known organics (four dicarboxylic acids, one amino acid,
and one sugar) in pure form and in mixtures with ammonium sulfate
((NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>). The average error in inferred molar volumes are
to within 18% of their expected value for organic fractions between 50
and 90%. This suggests that KTA is a potentially powerful tool for
determining the CCN characteristic of ambient water soluble organic carbon
(WSOC), providing physically-based constraints for aerosol-cloud interaction
parameterizations.
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