Abstract

During an international workshop at the Institute for Experimental Physics of the University of Vienna, Austria, which was coordinated within the Committee on Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols (IAMAS-IUGG), 10 instruments for aerosol number concentration measurement were studied, covering a wide range of methods based on various different measuring principles. In order to investigate the detection limits of the instruments considered with respect to particle size, simultaneous number concentration measurements were performed for monodispersed aerosols with particle sizes ranging from 1.5 to 50 nm diameter and various compositions. The instruments considered show quite different response characteristics, apparently related to the different vapors used in the various counters to enlarge the particles to an optically detectable size. A strong dependence of the 50% cutoff diameter on the particle composition in correlation with the type of vapor used in the specific instrument was found. An enhanced detection efficiency for ultrafine hygroscopic sodium chloride aerosols was observed with water operated systems, an analogous trend was found for n-butanol operated systems with Non hygroscopic silver and tungsten oxide particles. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Department(s)

Physics

Comments

Universität Wien, Grant None

Keywords and Phrases

Condensation nuclei counter; Diffusion battery; Electro mobility spectrometer; Intercomparison study; Optical particle counter; Particle detection efficiency

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0169-8095

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2002

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

 
COinS