Experimental And Theoretical Study Of The Sign Preference In The Nucleation Of Water Vapor

The nucleation of water vapor on ions in atmospheres of helium and argon was studied using an expansion type cloud chamber. Separation of the positive and negative ions was achieved so that the nucleation could be studied as a function of both the sign of the ionic charge and the supersaturation. A semiphenominological theory was developed as an extension of the classical liquid drop theory to include the effects of the ionic charge on the nucleation process. The theoretical model of the prenucleation embryo was assumed to possess an oriented dipole surface layer with the direction of orientation dependent on the sign of the ionic charge. The theory predicts not only the increase in the nucleation rate compared to that for homogeneous nucleation and a difference in rate between positive and negative ions, the negative ions having the higher nucleation rate, but also predicts a correction term to the classical theory of homogeneous nucleation for polar molecules which exhibit an electrical double layer at the liquid surface. Comparison of the theoretical and experimental results for nucleation on both positive and negative ions yields good agreement and indicates the prenucleation embryo is probably a tightly bonded highly structured cluster possessing an oriented dipole surface layer. © 1971

A Correction To Classical Homogeneous Nucleation Theory For Polar Molecules Exhibiting An Electric Double Layer At The Liquid Surface

An oriented dipole surface layer is added to the classical liquid drop model of nucleation to account for the surface behavior of substances having polar nonsymmetrical molecules. The preliminary treatment of the change in free energy as given by Abraham is modified to include Fletcher\u27s exponential decay of the degree of orientation. An additional correction for the excess binding energy due to the presence of a foreign molecule in the prenucleation cluster is included to account for the inflections observed in the experimental results of Allen and Kassner. The resulting free energy of formation is combined with the kinetic treatment of Frenkel to obtain a nucleation rate law. The theoretical results are compared to the experimental results of Allen and Kassner as a function of both supersaturation and temperature. The agreement is good once the heterogeneous component is taken into account. © 1972

Homogeneous Nucleation Rate for Water

Homogeneous nucleation rate data for water extending over an exceptionally large domain of rate (J), supersaturation ratio (S), and temperature (T) was recently published. Because it spans a large J-S-T surface, this data constitutes a good test of nucleation theory. Here classical nucleation theory is used to analyze this data. By adjusting only the sticking coefficient, we are able to obtain a good fit between theory and experiment. It was necessary to include an increase in the water molecular density associated with the finite water compressibility

The University Of Missouri-rolla, Absolute Aitken Nucleus Counter

The authors discuss the expansion cloud chamber system known as the University of Missouri-Rolla-absolute Aitken nucleus counter. A review of the properties of an expansion chamber and how it creates a supersaturation are given and a critical examination is made of the assumptions in its operation, e.g. adiabaticity of the expansion. The design of the chamber is described in detail and an analysis of the propagation of errors is given for quantities measured and calculated. A short review of the performance of the chamber and some general comments relative to comparisons with other Aitken nucleus counting instruments are given. The chamber is capable of making measurements on aerosols of number concentration up to 106 nuclei/cm3 to an accuracy of about 10-15% at any desired supersaturation ratio up to the ion limit. Finally mention is made of other expansion chambers developed in this laboratory for measurements of homogeneous nucleation rates. © 1982

Water And Ice Nucleation Sites From Ion Implantation Of Silicon

Ion implantation has a substantial effect on the heterogeneous nucleation of water and ice. An enhancement of water nucleation and a suppression of ice nucleation occurred for samples of silicon implanted with ions of various species and dosage. These effects were noticeable only for samples implanted with ion doses approaching or exceeding the critical dose necessary to produce amorphous silicon. The behavior of the water droplet and ice crystal growth can be related to the amount of ion produced damage to the substrate surface. The nature of the damage can be controlled by variation of the incident ion species, dose, and energy and thus offers a means of quantifying the surface damage while studying its relationship to heterogeneous nucleation. © 1980 American Chemical Society

Study of Prenucleation Ion Clusters: Correlation between Ion Mobility Spectra and Size Distributions

Additional studies regarding our earlier electrothermodynamic theory are presented. Comparisons to recent expansion cloud chamber ion mobility measurements are made, indicating general agreement with observations. This theory predicts more stable and ordered structure for prenucleation ion-water cluster systems than accounted for by the classical Thomson\u27s theory. In the limiting case of the dielectric constant ε = 1, our monopole electrostatic energy term contributed by the foreign ion center precisely converges to that of Thomson. Predicted ion cluster size distributions are found to correlate well with ion cluster size spectra obtained from the ion mobility measurements of hydrated ion clusters and Champman-Enskog theory. In view of good correlation between the theory and observation, we believe that ion mobility study at sufficiently low electric field is a powerful tool for studying prenucleation dynamics

Homogeneous Nucleation Rate Measurements for Water Over a Wide Range of Temperature and Nucleation Rate

An expansion cloud chamber was used to measure the homogeneous nucleation rate for water over a wide range of temperature from 230-290 K and nucleation rates of 1-106 drops cm-3 s-1. The comprehensive and extensive nature of this data allows a much more detailed comparison between theory and experiment than has previously been possible. The expansion chamber technique employs continuous pressure measurement and an adiabatic pulse of supersaturation to give the time history of supersaturation and temperature during the nucleation. The resulting drop concentration is determined using photographic techniques. The experimental observations are presented in tabular form and from them an empirical nucleation rate formula is determined: J=S2 exp[328.124-5.582 43T+0.030 365T2-5. 0319E-5T3-(999.814-4.100 87T+3.010 84E-3 T2)ln -2S], where J is the nucleation rate in units of drops cm -1 s-1 is the supersaturation ratio and T is the temperature in K

Measurement of the Condensation Coefficient of Water in the UMR Simulation Chamber

The UMR Cloud Simulation Facility is described. The facility is designed to provide a controlled environment simulating the conditions of natural atmospheric processes. It consists of two cooled-wall expansion cloud chambers and peripheral instrumentation for generation and characterization of aerosols used for cloud formation studies. Results of initial studies of the growth of warm cloud droplets and inferred measurements of the condensation coefficient are described

Measurement of the Condensation Coefficient of Water in the UMR Cloud Simulation Chamber

Measurements of the condensation coefficient of water under conditions closely approximating those in natural atmospheric cloud have been made in the cooled-wall UMR cloud simulation chamber. Current measurements disclose a value of condensation coefficient near unity at the outset of the experiment, generally decreasing to lower values (~ .01) as the experiment progresses. The significance of the magnitude of condensation coefficient in atmospheric cloud is briefly discussed