Aerosol Microphysics II

Aerosols, which are gas-phase dispersions of particulate matter, draw upon and con- tribute to multidisciplinary work in technology and the natural sciences. As has been true throughout the history of science with other fields of interest whose un- derlying disciplinary structure was either unclear or insufficiently well developed to contribute effectively to those fields, "e;aerosol science"e; has. developed its own methods and lore somewhat sequestered from the main lines of contemporary physical thought. Indeed, this independent development is the essential step in which syste- matic or phenomenological descriptions are evolved with validity of sufficient gen- erality to suggest the potential for development of a physically rigorous and gen- eralizable body of knowledge. At the same time, the field has stimulated many ques- tions which, limited to its own resources, are hopelessly beyond explanation. As Kuhn pointed out in The Structure of Scientific Revolution [2nd enlarged edition (University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1970) Chapter II and Postscript-1969) this is a very common juncture in the development of a science. In brief, the transition from this earlier stage to the mature stage of the science involves a general re- cognition and agreement of what the foundations of the field consist of. By this critical step, a field settles upon a common language which is well defined rather than the ambiguous, and often undefined descriptors prevalent at the earlier stage.