AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Organic Aerosols: What Happens Where and How Fast
NEIL DONAHUE, Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract Number: 423 Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere
Abstract Oxidation chemistry clearly can make organic molecules that stick to, or stay in organic aerosols. What phase that oxidation happens in, why molecules stick to particles, what chemistry occurs within the particles, and what physical process may impede the mass transfer between gas and particle phases remain unclear. Because organic aerosols consist of a very diverse mixture of different molecules, it is also perilous to extrapolate too freely from the behavior of one molecule to the overall behavior of the mixture. However, we do have a substantial collection of experimental and theoretical constraints to help identify the leading causes of organic aerosol properties, including mass concentration, oxidation state, hygroscopicity, etc. These include mass yield experiments, dilution experiments, thermodeuder measurements, and theoretical considerations of vapor pressure and oxidation mechanisms. Here we shall discuss how these constraints apply to the overall behavior of organic aerosols in the atmosphere.