Unexpected magic by cosmic rays in cloud formation
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - 09:30
in Astronomy & Space
Physicists suggested that cosmic rays, energetic particles from space, are important in the formation of clouds. Since then, experiments have demonstrated that cosmic rays actually help small clusters of molecules to form. But the cosmic-ray/cloud hypothesis seemed to run into a problem when numerical simulations of the prevailing chemical theory pointed to a failure of growth.