Vol. 23, issue 09, article # 13

Abstract:

In this work, experimental investigations are presented of the ionizing effect of electron beam and static electricity on the water vapor condensation in different conditions of supersaturation. The experimental setup was designed on the basis of an atmospheric optical cell, which is a tube of 0.7 m in inner diameter and 112 m in length made of stainless steel. In this setup, supersaturation of water vapor is performed by means of pressure release from a working chamber of a comparatively small volume to a vacuumized chamber of larger volume like in second type Wilson chambers; this allows significant degrees of water vapor supersaturation. The performed experiments show a pronounced dependence of the signal, caused by radiation scattering by drops formed in expansion of the air-vapor mixture, on factors influencing the mixture ionization. The results point out to a significant dependence of the drop-formation dynamics on the degree of air ionization.

Keywords:

supersaturated vapor, condensation, ionization, cloud formation