Laboratory studies of collection efficiency of sub-micrometer aerosol particles by cloud droplets on a single droplet basis

Abstract

Abstract. An experimental setup has been constructed to measure the Collection Efficiency (CE) of sub-micrometer aerosol particles by cloud droplets. Water droplets of a dilute aqueous ammonium sulfate solution with a radius of ~20 μm fall freely into a chamber and collide with sub-micrometer Polystyrene Latex Sphere (PSL) particles of variable size and concentrations. Two RH conditions, ~15 and ~88%, hereafter termed "Low" and "High", respectively, were varied with different particles size and concentrations. After passing through the chamber, the droplets and aerosol particles were sent to the Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry (PALMS) instrument to determine chemical compositions on a single particle basis. Coagulated droplets had mass spectra that contain signatures from both an aerosol particle and a droplet residual. CE values range from 5.7 × 10−3 to 4.6 × 10−2 for the Low RH and from 6.4 × 10−3 to 2.2 × 10−2 for the High RH cases. CE values were, within experimental uncertainty, independent of the aerosol concentrations. CE values in this work were found to be in agreement with previous experimental and theoretical studies. To our knowledge, this is the first coagulation experiment performed on a single droplet basis.