A large confined volume in which sunlight or simulated sunlight is allowed to irradiate
air mixtures of atmospheric trace gases (
hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, etc.) which undergo
oxidation. In theory these chambers allow the controlled study of complex reactions which occur
in the atmosphere. However, ill-defined wall reactions which generate some molecular
and radical species (e.g.
HONO,
CH2O,
HO-radicals, etc.) and remove certain products
(
H2O2,
HNO3, etc.), the use of reactant concentrations well above those in the atmosphere, ill-defined
light intensities and
wavelength distribution within the chamber, and other factors peculiar to chamber experiments
require that caution be exercised in the extrapolation of results obtained from them
to atmospheric systems.
Source:
PAC, 1990, 62, 2167
(Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990))
on page 2214
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
