Aerosol

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Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are smoke, oceanic haze, air pollution, smog and CS gas. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can. The word aerosol derives from the fact that matter "floating" in air is a suspension (a mixture in which solid or liquid or combined solid-liquid particles are suspended in a fluid). To differentiate suspensions from true solutions, the term sol evolved—originally meant to cover dispersions of tiny (sub-microscopic) particles in a liquid. With studies of dispersions in air, the term aerosol evolved and now embraces both liquid droplets, solid particles, and combinations of these.

For more information about Aerosol, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with aerosols

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Salt block unexpectedly stretches in new experiments

Salt block unexpectedly stretches in new experiments

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jun 24, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 4

To stretch a supply of salt generally means using it sparingly.


Climate studies to benefit from 12 years of satellite aerosol data

Climate studies to benefit from 12 years of satellite aerosol data

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Aerosols, very small particles suspended in the air, play an important role in the global climate balance and in regulating climate change. They are one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate change ...


Caltech researchers show how organic carbon compounds emitted by trees affect air quality

Researchers show how organic carbon compounds emitted by trees affect air quality

Space & Earth / Environment

created Aug 06, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (9) | comments 6

A previously unrecognized player in the process by which gases produced by trees and other plants become aerosols—microscopically small particles in the atmosphere—has been discovered by a research team led ...


Aerosols May Drive a Significant Portion of Arctic Warming

Aerosols May Drive a Significant Portion of Arctic Warming

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 08, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (19) | comments 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- Though greenhouse gases are invariably at the center of discussions about global climate change, new NASA research suggests that much of the atmospheric warming observed in the Arctic since ...


What's Up with Those Ice Clouds?

Aircraft emissions could influence climate change through cloud formation

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 2.6 / 5 (8) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Aircraft emissions can affect the properties of cirrus clouds, contributing to climate change. This was a key finding from PNNL scientist Dr. Xiaohong Liu and his colleagues from a recent ...


Cosmic meddling with the clouds by seven-day magic

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 01, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 9

Billions of tonnes of water droplets vanish from the atmosphere, as if by magic, in events that reveal in detail how the Sun and the stars control our everyday clouds. Researchers of the National Space Institute in the Technical ...


Sky, Clouds

Missing link of cloud formation

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Aug 11, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (9) | comments 0

The discovery of an unknown hitherto chemical compound in the atmosphere may help to explain how and when clouds are formed. The discovery of the so called dihydroxyepoxides (an aerosol-precursor), is reported ...


The mystery of particles

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 19, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 2

Particles cool down the climate, but to which extent? This has remained an unanswered question for scientists. A new article in Science by Gunnar Myhre at CICERO, Norway, brings the scientific community a step closer to sol ...


Sulfate lens enhances climate warming properties of atmospheric soot

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 29, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (9) | comments 3

Particulate pollution thought to be holding climate change in check by reflecting sunlight instead enhances warming when combined with airborne soot, a new study has found.


Summer haze has a cooling effect in southeastern United States

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 18, 2009 | popularity 2.4 / 5 (8) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Global warming may include some periods of local cooling, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Results from satellite and ground-based sensor data show that sweltering ...


Dust deposited in oceans may carry elements toxic to marine algae

Dust deposited in oceans may carry elements toxic to marine algae

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dust blown off the continents and deposited in the open ocean is an important source of nutrients for marine phytoplankton, the tiny algae that are the foundation of the ocean food web. But ...


New aerosol observing technique turns gray skies to blue

New aerosol observing technique turns gray skies to blue (w/Video)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny, ubiquitous particles in the atmosphere may play a profound role in regulating global climate. But the scientists who study these particles -- called aerosols -- have long struggled to ...


Do dust particles curb climate change?

Do dust particles curb climate change?

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles suspended ...


Has northern-hemisphere pollution affected Australian rainfall?

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 26, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New research announced at the International Water in a Changing Climate Science Conference in Melbourne 24-28 August, implicates pollution from Asia, Europe and North America as a contributor to recent Australian rainfall ...


Report calls aerosol research key to improving climate predictions

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 17, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Scientists need a more detailed understanding of how human-produced atmospheric particles, called aerosols, affect climate in order to produce better predictions of Earth's future climate, according to a NASA-led report issued ...