AEROSOL CONCENTRATIONS FROM A BURST OF NUCLEATION

Coupled equations are derived which give the changes in the aerosol size distribution and vapour saturation during the nucleation of an aerosol from a supersaturated vapour-gas mixture. Nucleation cutoff is allowed for both by vapour depletion and by rise in temperature from latent heat release. The equations are solved for water droplet nucleation in air at 20-degrees-C by three methods. The approximate Warren-Seinfeld theory is found to give good agreement with exact results, but good agreement for the nucleation timescale and number concentration of the aerosol formed is also obtained with analytic expressions derived for these quantities.