Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Science

Humidity can change how smoke pollutants transform after dark

What happens to smoke particles after sunset can depend strongly on something as familiar as the amount of water in the air. New research from Md. Sohel Rana and Marcelo I. Guzman at the University of Kentucky shows that relative humidity can redirect the chemical pathways involved in the nighttime...

Humidity can change how smoke pollutants transform after dark
Image: Phys.org
What happens to smoke particles after sunset can depend strongly on something as familiar as the amount of water in the air. New research from Md. Sohel Rana and Marcelo I. Guzman at the University of Kentucky shows that relative humidity can redirect the chemical pathways involved in the nighttime oxidation of catechol, a phenolic compound associated with biomass burning.

Originally published at Phys.org

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