Aerosol

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Aerosol

Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are smoke

Smoke

File:Bling-Bling Skywriting David Shankbone.jpgSmoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrainment or otherwise mixed into the mass....
, oceanic haze, air pollution

Air pollution

Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the Earth's atmosphere....
, smog

Smog

Smog is a kind of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide....
and CS gas

CS gas

CS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile , a "tear gas" that is used as a riot control agent. It is generally accepted as being Non-lethal force....
. In general conversation, "aerosol" usually refers to an aerosol spray

Aerosol spray

Aerosol spray is a type of dispensing system which creates an Particulate mist of liquid particles. This is used with a spray can or bottle that contains a liquid under pressure....
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

Fluid

A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. All liquids and all gases are fluids. Fluids are a subset of the Phase and include liquids, gas, Plasma physics and, to some extent, plasticity ....
).

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Encyclopedia

Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are smoke

Smoke

Air pollution

Smog

CS gas

Aerosol spray

Fluid

Suspension (chemistry)

In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous fluid containing solid particles that are sufficiently large for sedimentation. Usually they must be larger than 1 micrometre....
s from true solution

Solution

In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent....
s, the term sol evolved—originally meant to cover dispersion

Dispersion

Dispersion can refer to:...
s 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. An aerosol may come from sources as various as a volcano or an aerosol can.

Workplace exposure

Concentrated aerosols from substances such as silica, asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral with long, thin fibrous crystals. The word asbestos is derived from a Greek language adjective meaning inextinguishable....
, and diesel

Diesel

Diesel or diesel fuel in general is any fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillation of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted....
particulate matter are sometimes found in the workplace and have been shown to result in a number of diseases including silicosis

Silicosis

Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs....
and black lung

Black Lung

Black Lung is an electronic music and industrial music project by Australian musician David Thrussell, also known for his industrial bands Snog and the more ambient Soma....
. Respirators can protect workers from harmful aerosol exposure. In the United States the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness....
certifies respirators through the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory to ensure that they protect workers and the public from harmful airborne contaminants.

Effect on climate

Anthropogenic

Anthropogenic effects, processes or materials are those that are derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in natural environments without human influence....
aerosols, particularly sulfate aerosols from fossil fuel

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fossil source fuels, that is, carbon or hydrocarbons found in the earth?s Crust .Fossil fuel range from volatile materials with low carbon:hydrogen ratios like methane, to liquid petroleum to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite coal....
combustion, exert a cooling influence on the climate. The cooling effect of aerosols, however, does not seem to directly counteract the warming induced by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor and is accounted for in climate models, despite some claims that "global dimming

Global dimming

Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s....
" by aerosols may counteract global warming.

Recent studies of the Sahel drought

Sahel drought

The Sahel drought was a series of historic droughts, beginning in at least the 17th century affecting the the Sahel region, a climate zone sandwiched between the African savanna grasslands to the south and the Sahara desert to the north, across West Africa and Central Africa....
and major increases since 1967 in rainfall over the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal states and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions....
, Kimberley, Pilbara and around the Nullarbor Plain

Nullarbor Plain

The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country immediately north of the Great Australian Bight. The word Nullarbor is derived from the Latin nullus for 'nothing' or 'no one' and arbor for 'tree', and is pronounced "NULL-uh-bore" ....
have led some scientists to conclude that the aerosol haze over South

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
and East Asia

East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
has been steadily shifting tropical rainfall in both hemispheres southward. The latest studies of severe rainfall declines over southern Australia

Climate change in Australia

Climate change has become a major issue in Australia due to drastic climate events since the turn of the century that have focused government and public attention.....
since 1997 have led climatologists there to consider the possibility that these Asian aerosols have shifted not only tropical but also midlatitude systems southward.

Oxides of nitrogen

Nitrogen oxide

The term nitrogen oxide typically refers to any binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or to a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide , nitrogen oxide...
(NO_x) in the atmosphere are a form of pollution which can give rise to smog

Smog

Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that Absorption and Emission radiation within the Infrared#Different regions in the infrared range....
. Their persistence in the atmosphere is affected by aerosol droplets of water. In 1964 long chain fatty acids, either naturally produced from marine organisms dispersed into the atmosphere by wave action or man-made, were found to coat these droplets. In 2006 there was a study of the effect of the LCFA on the persistence of NO_x, but the long term implications, although thought to be significant, have yet to be determined.

Aerosol

Workplace exposure

Effect on climate

See also

External links