Structural Complications

For scientists, one of the challenging aspects of studying aerosols is that the particles can change drastically as they age. This illustration shows the evolution of freshly-burned black carbon, which starts out with a distinctive chain-like structure. Over time, the chain begins to collapse and becomes more spherical. Such transformations can take place in short periods, and can alter how a given particle affects our health and the climate.

 

Image Information: More details are available in this Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer article (pdf). Credit: Goddard Institute for Space Studies/Li Liu

 

--Adam Voiland, Goddard Space Flight Center

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