Researchers find intermolecular forces stabilize clusters, promote aerosol production

One enigma that has perplexed scientists is how new particles form in the atmosphere. They know how aerosols can grow into sizes large enough to seed cloud droplets, but those same theories fail to explain how the initial particle core develops. Researchers have chipped away at the nucleation mystery – far enough to identify small clusters of certain types of molecules as the key step. Yet, the underlying mechanism for why some oxidized organic molecules formed clusters with bisulfate over others remained unclear. To improve nucleation predictability in models, researchers need a fundamental understanding of what's happening at the molecular level.

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