New research has found that pollution cannot be held responsible for the change in the rate of droplet formation.
A little grease or oily substance cannot change the rate of droplet formation that forms clouds and later lead to rain, say researchers who recently studied the relation between pollution and droplet formation.
According to researchers, studying cloud formation is essential to give accurate climatic and weather updates. And this can only be done with a proper knowledge of droplet formation that leads to cloud formation. Droplets are formed when water vapor attaches itself to some particle in the atmosphere. This particle could be sea salt from the ocean, dust, microorganisms, sulfur, soot, or any organic material that can be both oily and viscous.
It's believed that when these particles are covered with "goop," which refers to layers of grease that is produced during the combustion of petroleum and biomass, causes the slow formation of droplets that largely affects the formation of clouds. However, a new study conducted on the same found that this "goop" is not responsible for the change in rate of droplet formation.
"It turns out that it doesn't matter how much goop you have -- or don't have -- the droplets take the same time to form," said Athanasios Nenes, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. "Even in extreme environments like Deepwater Horizon, the rate of droplet formation on particles found over the spill doesn't differ from that of typical sea salt particles."
The findings of the research have been published journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
