Back in the early 2000’s I taught a graduate course at the University of Cincinnati on aerosol dynamics. It was an introductory course that covered the basics of airborne particle physics, including how they behave, what affects this behavior, and how to sample and characterize them.
With the growing coronavirus-inspired interest in face masks and respirators–especially DIY ones–I dug my course notes out, and was surprised at how detailed they are.
And so, just in case anyone’s looking for a crash course in aerosol dynamics, either because they are simply curious, or they want to build a better face mask, here are those notes:
DOWNLOAD: INTRODUCTION TO AEROSOL DYNAMICS
These were written for the class participants rather than for public consumption, and so they are a little clunky in places. And of course, the state of the science has moved on since they were last updated in 2004. Yet the notes still do a surprisingly good job of covering the basics of aerosol behavior in a way that remains relevant today.
Please feel free to share and use – they are provided under a Creative Commons CC- BY-SA license
UPDATE: One of the key resources for this course was an Excel spreadsheet developed by a good friend and colleague Paul Baron that included an exceptionally comprehensive set of calculations for determining, predicting and modeling aerosol behavior. That “aerosol calculator” can be downloaded here.