Phase behavior of methane haze.
Methane aerosols play a fundamental role in the atmospheres of Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn's moon Titan as borne out by the recent Cassini-Huygens mission. Here we present the first study of the phase behavior of free methane aerosol particles combining collisional cooling with rapid-scan infrared spectroscopy in situ. We find fast (within minutes) phase transitions to crystalline states directly after particle formation and characteristic surface effects for nanometer-sized particles. From our results, we conclude that in atmospheric clouds solid methane particles are crystalline.
Signorell
R
R
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. signorell@chem.ubc.ca
Jetzki
M
M