Comment on the Calculation of the Steady-State Charge Distribution on Aerosols < 100 nm by Three Body Trapping Method in a Bipolar Ion Environment

The theory of Fuchs (1963) Fuchs, N. 1963. On the Stationary Charge Distribution on Aerosol Particles in a Bipolar Ionic Atmosphere. Geofis. Pura Appl., 56: 185–192. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] is widely used for calculation of the steady-state charge distribution on (submicron) aerosol particles in a bipolar ion environment. Hoppel and Frick (1986) Hoppel, W. and Frick, G. 1986. Ion-Aerosol Attachment Coefficients and the Steady-State Charge Distribution on Aerosols in a Bipolar Environment. J. Aerosol Sci., 5: 1–21. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] and others showed that the Fuchs theory is no longer valid for particle diameters in the order of magnitude of the ionic mean free path. In their 1986 and 1990 papers, Hoppel and Frick published a new calculation method based on the concept of thee-body trapping, which is applicable for small particles down to the size of ions. Some print and procedure mistakes were made in the named publications. Additionally some important calculation information was not given. In this article, the relevant equations are shown, corrected and appended. A recalculation of the charge distributions for small particles based on three-body trapping shows a pronounced difference in comparison to data calculated according to the theory of Fuchs.