Aerosol

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/aerosol

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the physical state?Colloidal suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas
2. What is the typical particle diameter?Less than 1 micrometer (µm)
3. Where do aerosols come from?Aerosols can come from nature, like dust from deserts, sea salt from waves, or smoke from volcanoes, and from people, like smoke from cars, factories, or burning crops.
4. How do aerosols affect the weather?Aerosols can change how clouds look and how long they stay. Some make clouds brighter and cooler, while others can warm the air by absorbing sunshine.

Colloid: A mixture where tiny particles are dispersed evenly throughout another substance.
Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN): Tiny particles in the atmosphere that water vapor condenses onto to form cloud droplets.
Radiative Forcing: The change in the energy balance of the Earth's climate system due to some influencing factor.
Geoengineering: The deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth's natural systems to counteract climate change.