Number median aerodynamic diameters

Published results on the concentration and size distribution of small particles in mainstream smoke vary widely, with concentrations ranging from 107 to 1011 cm-3 and with NMAD (number median aerodynamic diameter) ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 fim (Ishizu et a/., 1978). The MMAD (mass median aerodynamic diameter) of undiluted mainstream smoke particles ranges between 0.93 and 1.00 finl (Langer and Fisher, 1956 Holmes et a/., 1959). Lower values of the MMAD for diluted mainstream smoke, which decreased with degree of dilution, are reported by Hinds (1978). However, the particle size distributions for mainstream smoke appear to have little relevance to its retention and distribution in the lung, for reasons discussed below. Note that the concentration of tars in mainstream smoke is about 1,000 times that of air in smoke-filled rooms. 

The median diameter corresponds with the 50 % value of a cumulative number, volume or mass percent distribution as function of the diameter. Fifty percent of the volume (number or mass) of the aerosol is in larger, and 50 % is in smaller particles than the median diameter. For a volume distribution it is the volume median diameter, for a mass distribution the mass median diameter. When the mass percent is expressed as a function of the aerod3mamic diameter, reference can be made to the mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD). 

E). The data rather indicate that the activity median aerodynamic diameter, AMAD, of Be-aerosols increases with increasing latitude (latitudinal effect). As cosmic radiation increases with latitude, the numbers of Be atoms and ions formed also increase with latitude and so there are more Be atoms and ions available either to form small aerosol particles in the nucleation (Aitken nuclei) mode and then growing or to be attached directly to the existing large particles in the accumulation and in the coarse particle modes thereby increasing the AMAD of the Be-aerosols. 

TABLE 9.11 Aerodynamic Mass Median Diameters of Tropospheric Particles Containing Various Elements Observed in a Number of Studies and Enrichment Factors 1... 

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