ABSTRACT
The metastable state of aerosol dispersion systems, consisting of excess of the surface energy of the particles, is supported by the disunity of the particles in space. When the particles collide with each other they may merger, which is an elementary act of relaxation of metastable states to stable states. In the aerosol dispersed systems, including solid particles, the result of their merger may be the formation of conglomerates, for example, as shown in Fig. 4.7 in chapter 4. In systems with liquid aerosol droplets leads to an enlargement of the latter. In the processes of producing powders by spraying the substance in the liquid form the coalescence reduces the efficiency of the process and leads to a distortion of the fractional composition of the obtained powders.
