About the Seminar:

Inorganic salts can enhance (“salting-in”) or inhibit (“salting-out”) the partitioning of organic gases to aqueous solutions relative to that in pure water.  These phenomena may affect the composition and abundance of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), though their importance in the atmosphere is largely unconstrained at present.  In this work, we quantify the effects of salt identity, salt concentration (ionic strength), and solution pH on the partitioning of atmospheric water-soluble organic gases (WSOC_g) at a site in Baltimore County, MD.  The experimental pH (pH = 1 – 6) and ionic strengths (10^-3 – 10¹ mol kg^-1) span a wide range of conditions found in atmospheric particles, clouds, and fog droplets.  Chloride salts (NaCl, NH₄Cl, and KCl) exhibit a strong salting-out effect at all ionic strengths > 0.005 mol kg^-1 and pH = 1.8 – 6.  Conversely, sulfate salts (NaSO₄, (NH₄)₂SO₄, and K₂SO₄) induce both salting-in and salting-out behaviors, depending on ionic strength and pH.  These results suggest that monovalent cations have a minimal effect on the partitioning behavior of ambient organic gases, while both ionic strength and pH exert important influences on the distribution of organics in the atmosphere.

Virtual Seminar Link: TBA