The effect of like-charge attraction on aerosol growth in the atmosphere of Titan

Lindgren, Eric B.; Stamm, Benjamin; Chan, Ho-Kei; Maday, Yvon; Stace, Anthony J.; Besley, Elena

Abstract

The formation of aerosols in the atmosphere of Titan is based extensively onion-neutral chemistry and physical condensation processes. Herein it is shown that the formation of aerosols may also occur through an alternative pathway that involves the physical aggregation of negatively charged particles, which are known to be abundant in the satellite's atmosphere. It is shown that, given the right circumstances, like-charged particles with a dielectric constant characteristic of nitrated hydrocarbons have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome any repulsive electrostatic barrier that separates them and can subsequently experience an attractive interaction at very short separation. Aerosol growth can then unfold through a charge scavenging process, whereby nitrated aggregates preferentially grow by assimilating smaller like-charged particles. Since hydrocarbon aerosols have much lower dielectric constants, it is shown that a similar mechanism involving hydrocarbon particles will not be as efficient. As a consequence of this proposed growth mechanism, it is suggested that the lower atmosphere of Titan will be enriched in nitrogen-containing aerosols.

Citation

Lindgren, E. B., Stamm, B., Chan, H., Maday, Y., Stace, A. J., & Besley, E. (2017). The effect of like-charge attraction on aerosol growth in the atmosphere of Titan. Icarus, 291, 245-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.12.013

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 10, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Dec 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 15, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 10, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 11, 2017
• Journal: Icarus
• Print ISSN: 0019-1035
• Electronic ISSN: 0019-1035
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 291
• Pages: 245-253
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.12.013
• Keywords: Titan; Aerosol; Like Charge Attraction; Dielectric Particles; Atmosphere
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/835827
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103516302731
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: The effect of like-charge attraction on aerosol growth in the atmosphere of Titan; Journal Title: Icarus; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.12.013; Content Type: article; Copyright: Crown Copyright © 2016 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.