Aerosol glassy states promote global warming, airborne toxins and pathogens (ARC Discovery Project administered by Queensland University of Technology) (2021–2024)
Abstract:
This project will improve our understanding of the role played by airborne particles in global climate, pollution and
the transmission of influenza, corona virus and the common cold. It will do so by revealing the wider importance of
"glassy states" of matter recently revealed in atmospheric aerosols. Glassy states are highly unpredictable quasi
solids that abruptly form, interrupting the transition of a liquid to a solid. This interruption invalidates equilibrium
assumptions of models of droplets as cloud nuclei and infection vectors. We will develop and validate a numerical
tool for predicting glassy state formation and its impact in broad classes of aerosol that include particles critical to
cloud formation and infection transmission.