Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • This is an aerosol particle.

  • In real life, you could barely see it.

  • It's just a little speck suspended in the atmosphere anywhere from a few days to several years.

  • It could be dust from a desert.

  • Or salt from ocean spray.

  • It could have been blasted out of a volcano.

  • Or created during a forest fire.

  • It might have flown out of a factory smokestack.

  • Or a truck's tailpipe.

  • Depending on what it isand where it isan aerosol particle can do some impressive things.

  • Like cool the planet by reflecting sunlight back into space.

  • Or by collecting water vapor to build a cloud.

  • On the other hand, some aerosol particles trap sunlight and heat the air, thus preventing clouds from forming.

  • Other aerosols can host chemical reactions that damage the ozone layer.

  • And down on Earth, they can even cause health problems, such as lung and heart disease.

  • That layer of hazy air pollution above big cities?

  • Yep, it contains aerosol particles.

  • Aerosols.

  • They're tiny.

  • They're powerful.

  • NASA studies them with satellites and instruments on the International Space Station, and with specialized aircraft and ground-based devices.

  • Because when it comes to understanding our environment, our climate, and how it's all changing, little particles make a big difference!

This is an aerosol particle.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it