Nucleation in the presence of air ions and aerosol particles

Abstract

This chapter studies the influence of transformation of the difference equations into the differential equations on the resulting nucleation rate. As the effect of larger particles on nucleation has drawn less attention, this effect is discussed in the case of compounds of low vapor pressure. The effect of air ions recombination and the scavenging effect of aerosol on ion-induced nucleation are considered in the chapter. The replacement of difference equations of cluster size distribution, in the standard way in classical nucleation theory, by differential equation, gives erroneous cluster size distribution in the case of cluster scavenging by an aerosol. The condition for the value of vapor pressure is that the effect of vapor distribution around an aerosol particle of given size on nucleation can be ignored. The cluster balance equations of ion-induced nucleation at low vapor pressure, in the case of ion recombination, and in the presence of an aerosol are also presented in the chpater.