Aerosol Science: Theory and Practice

The subject of aerosols goes back many years and enters many aspects of science and technology. Optics, heat-transfer, biology, meteorology and pollution are just a few areas where the behaviour of small particles suspended in a gas is of vital importance. More recently, with increasing concern about the consequences of accidents in nuclear reactors and the effect of global nuclear war (i.e., the nuclear winter) a great deal of work has been directed towards the dispersal of radioactive aerosols in closed containers and in the atmosphere. The purpose of the book is twofold: to give a thorough treatment of the fundamentals of aerosol behaviour with rigorous proofs and detailed derivations of the basic equations and removal mechanisms and also to give practical examples with special attention to radioactive particles and their distribution in size following a release arising from an accident with a nuclear system. This book will be useful both as a course text and as a reference source.