Creation of aerosol particles within a small volume nebulizer is based on:

a. Stokes' law. c. the Bernoulli prin-ciple.
b. Brownian motion. d. Reynolds' number.

ANS: C
A typical small-volume nebulizer is powered by a high-pressure stream of gas directed through a restricted orifice (the jet). The gas stream leaving the jet passes the opening of a capillary tube immersed in solution. Because it produces low lateral pressure at the outlet, the high jet velocity draws the liquid up the capillary tube and into the gas stream, where it is sheared and broken up into droplets. This is known as the Bernoulli principle.