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Atmospheric Chemistry

Phase matters for aerosols

Nature volume 467, pages 797–798 (2010)Cite this article

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Organic aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. In forests, such particles can occur in solid form — a finding that will lead to a re-evaluation of how they are formed, and their properties and effects. See Letter p.824

Most schoolchildren, mischievous or not, know that a thrown egg sticks to a wall because it is predominantly liquid, but that a rock bounces because it is solid. Adults know this too, and, reporting on page 824 of this issue, Virtanen et al.1 cleverly use this simple principle, along with electron microscopy, to determine the phase of much smaller airborne objects — atmospheric aerosol particles. Their measurements show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the abundant microscopic organic particles that form in boreal forests by condensation of photo-oxidized tree emissions can be solid. This result has implications for understanding the formation and properties of these and other organic particles that are thought to affect both climate and human health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul J. Ziemann is at the Air Pollution Research Center and the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA. paul.ziemann@ucr.edu,

    Paul J. Ziemann

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  1. Paul J. Ziemann
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Ziemann, P. Phase matters for aerosols. Nature 467, 797–798 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467797a

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