Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p>Fine particles suspended in a gas (aerosols) play a crucial role in the natural environment and in technology. Global climate is influenced by aerosols as much as it is by methane; air pollution impacts are dominated by fine particles from combustion and atmospheric reactions; influenza and other diseases can be spread by aerosols. On the other hand, beneficial new materials can be synthesized from aerosol nanoparticles. Research in all these areas requires the ability to measure the size distribution of suspended particles with good time resolution and using a variety of physical processes (the response of any single instrument is influenced by particle material properties and shape). </p> <p>UBC's aerosol research&nbsp;group leads the world in many areas&nbsp;and already has excellent laboratory facilities with conventional and prototype aerosol measurement systems.&nbsp; A surprising gap in our capabilities (at UBC and the&nbsp;Province generally)&nbsp;is in the area of very fast instrumentation that can measure particles from nano to micro scale.&nbsp; Such instrumentation will provide an immediate and long-term enhancement of the research into atmospheric aerosols, health-related aerosols, and aerosols produced in technology.&nbsp; After a careful consideration of instrumentation available to our group, it was determined that the most important single instrument to purchase is an Electrical Low-Pressure Impactor (ELPI).</p> <p>The ELPI draws particles through a corona charger and then a series of electrometer stages.&nbsp; Particles are deposited onto the stages according to aerodynamic size so that from the calibrated charger characteristics, known aerodynamics, and electrometer currents, it is possible to determine the particle size distribution (from 6 nm to 10,000 nm) at 10 Hz.&nbsp; </p> <p>The ELPI is an established and robust instrument that will be used by at least&nbsp;10 professors and 40-50 HQP over its 20-25 year productive life. In the near term, we expect the most important uses will be in studying environmental aerosols (emissions near transportation systems and in&nbsp;agricultural settings),&nbsp;in laboratory combustion systems (technology development and also studies of human health impacts&nbsp;of emissions) and indoor aerosols (including effectiveness of filters and impacts of aerosols on equipment).&nbsp; Finally, the ELPI will be used in fundamental work on aerosol measurement and instrument development.</p>