Cascade impactor aerosol samples for PIXE and PESA analyses

Single orifice impactors have been modified to fractionate a full range of aerosol aerodynamic diameters into eight closed and two open ended intervals (> 16, 16-8, 8-4, 4-2, 2-1, 1.0-0.5, 0.50-0.25, 0.12-0.06 and < 0.06 μm). Experimental measurements with a methylene blue aerosol are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical 50% cut-point diameters. Outdoor and industrial-environment samples collected from Tallahassee and Reading, PA, respectively, show wide variations in the mass distributions of 15 elements measured by PIXE and proton elastic scattering analyses (PESA). The ten intervals provide adequate resolution to characterize the aerosol in a region of great environmental interest. (orig.)