Abstract

The heterogeneous nucleation of water vapor on insoluble particles affects cloud formation, precipitation, the hydrological cycle, and climate. Despite its importance, heterogeneous nucleation remains a poorly understood phenomenon that relies heavily on empirical information for its quantitative description. Here, we examine the heterogeneous nucleation of water vapor on different types of soots as well as cloud drop activation of different types of soots, including both pure black carbon particles and black carbon particles mixed with secondary organic matter. We show that the recently developed adsorption nucleation theory quantitatively predicts the nucleation of water and droplet formation upon particles of the various soot types. A surprising consequence of this new understanding is that, with sufficient adsorption site density, soot particles can activate into cloud droplets — even when completely lacking any soluble material.