Self‐Nucleation in the Sulfuric Acid‐Water System

Howard Reiss' ``Vector model'' was adapted to calculate the self‐nucleation rate for the sulfuric acid‐water system and similar systems.A numerical calculation was carried out for the typical case of 50% relative humidity at 25°C. It was concluded that rapid self‐nucleation would take place at sulfuric acid partial pressures in the range 10‐8‐10‐10 mm Hg. The considerable uncertainty is principally due to lack of data on the partial pressure of sulfuric acid above its aqueous solutions and on the dominant sulfuric acid‐bearing species in humid atmospheres.