I Optical proprieties of sulfur dioxide in the gaseous state

[solar energy]

TL;DR Summary

Hi, I am a second-year university student in engineering and for this year I have to do a presentation( with related experience ) about the physical implication of geoengineering methods.

Hi, I am a first-year university student in engineering and for this year I have to do a presentation( with related experience ) about the physical implication of geoengineering methods. The theoretical aspect seems quite understandable, my principal problem is to find a clear experience with the not-so-advanced laboratory instruments to which I have access.

At the start, basing myself on some research, I thought to use the refraction properties of saltwater: meanwhile, I should use water drops of a diameter range of 300-800 nm which is "instrumentally" impossible for me.

For this reason, I chose to try something different by using sulfur dioxide(that I can obtain thanks to the reaction of sodium metabisulfate with hidrochloric acid) but i this case i would only obtain its gas form(and not the aerosol form) so i fear that its propreties will be too much different.

If it is the case i though about using sulfur dioxyde in a suspension(i have seen that by a similar way we can evaluate its Trasmittance), the problem is that i should find a proper solvent(and for the moment i have no idea about).

I would be glad if can give some advices about my ideas or if you have some idea or critique to expose me.
Sincerly, A.O

 

[mfb]

What do you want to do? You directly jump to details of an experiment you didn't describe.

 

[solar energy]

I would like to measure the absorbance of sulfur dioxide and by this way give a general idea of his absorption capacities for what concerns short wave light

 

[mfb]

Why SO2 in particular? There are easier things to work with where you can measure absorption of light.

 

[solar energy]

Why SO2 in particular? There are easier things to work with where you can measure absorption of light.

I have read in an article that the actual geoengineering strategies foresee to use SO2 because of his experimental absorption that apparently is between 170 and 310nm.
Then if is there another molecule that has a quite strong absorption on short-wave light(and possibly easier to manipulate) I would be glad, but( a part of the saltwater) I have no particular idea

 

[mfb]

At this rate of information dripping it we'll need a long time before there is a chance to actually answer questions. That's not very efficient.

Water strongly absorbs 170 nm light.

 

[solar energy]

I apologize if I forget to give some details or information(you can ask me more in detail and I will have no problem answering), but for what concerns water absorption the problem is that I should give a physical model that could stand for a certain period of time: using vaporized water in the atmosphere will not give the same effect of using, for example, aerosols based on sulfur or salt(the second will "stand for more time" as I think)