Test of the applicability of Kulmala's analytical expression for the mass flux of growing droplets in highly supersaturated systems: growth of homogeneously nucleated water droplets

Abstract

The formation of aerosols proceeds through nucleation, growth and ageing stages. The understanding of nucleation and droplet growth is essential for handling the more complex atmospheric condensation processes. Following the approach of Fuchs and Sutugin, Fladerer and Strey reported in a previous paper, calculations of theoretical growth curves are performed. Calculated growth curves and experimental data on homogeneously nucleated droplets were shown to agree quantitatively. The analytical mass flux expression derived earlier by Kulmala, which implicitly includes the heat flux to the droplet due to the latent heat of condensation, yields growth curves similar to those obtained according to Fuchs and Sutugin for the extreme conditions of homogeneous nucleation (small initial droplet radii, high supersaturations). We show in this note that Kulmala's formula is applicable to all growth regimes and to initial conditions of high supersaturation, for which it was not expected to work properly.