Dynamic Behavior of Condensation and Evaporation of Polydisperse Volatile Aerosols

Abstract

It is demonstrated that, at room temperature and relatively low supersaturation, Stefan flow is relatively unimportant for condensational growth and evaporation of polydisperse volatile aerosols. Nevertheless, the latent heat effect on droplet temperature must be calculated as the use of isothermal condition may overpredict the growth or evaporation process by orders of magnitude in total aerosol mass. For nonisothermal Ostwald ripening process, the latent heat involved in the condensation/evaporation process creates a time delay effect on the asymptotic behavior of aerosol. Yet the aerosol system behaves according to the classical theory of Lifshitz, Slyozov, and Wagner.