The Enhanced Water Vapor Condensation by Negative Air Plasma Jet Array

Abstract

Rain enhancement is the main activity field of weather modification in the countries that suffer from water stress. The charged aerosol is a new man-made condensation nucleus to enhance the water vapor condensation. In this article, the negative-polarity air plasma jet array with plasma volume larger than 2 cm3 was used to generate the charged aerosols. Aerosols are mainly charged in the unipolar atmosphere. The averaged charge number of charged aerosols was measured to be 5818e. The attractive electric force of charged aerosols was more than ten times higher than the sum of thermophoretic forces and diffusophoretic forces. These charged aerosols accelerated the collision–coalescence process inside the cloud chamber, generated large droplets in the range of 40– $70~\\mu \\text{m}$ , and increased the settling amount of moisture by 58.8%.