Abstract
A quantitative investigation of the diffusion of atmospheric ions onto spherical particles is reported. Special emphasis is given to random charging processes. The analysis shows that in typical cases about half of the particles are positively charged and the other half negatively charged. Nearly every particle carries at least one electronic charge and some twenty or more. Expressions are developed for the statistical distribution of the fractional number of droplets in relation to their charge. When particle collisions are infrequent, the average free charge of the positive and negative fractions depends only on the square root of the radius and the mean thermal energy of each droplet. It is shown that an equipartition is established between the electrical potential energy of each drop and its thermal kinetic energy. Typical particle electrification somewhat increases the coagulation rate normally attributable to diffusion alone. Systematic droplet electrification of a selected sign is superimposed on this random charging if the positive and negative light ion conductivities of the environment have appreciably different values. The calculated distribution and average charge magnitude agree with those observed on silica dust and new measurements on cloud particles.
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