The Production of Condensation Nuclei by Crystallizing Salt Particles

Experiments were conducted to examine the possibility of condensation nuclei being produced by salt droplets when the environmental humidity was lowered sufficiently for crystallization to take place. It was found that condensation nuclei were in fact produced when salt particles crystallized, each salt particle producing at least several hundred nuclei. It is suggested that these nuclei consisted of minute salt crystals, with mass in the range 10−18 to 10−14g, released from the main mass of salt during crystallization.