A non-intrusive method for the measurement of water vapour sorption by bacterial spores |
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Authors: | GO Rubel |
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Institution: | Edgewood Research ,Development &Engineering Centre ,Aberdeen Proving Ground ,Edgewood MD ,USA |
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Abstract: | Single particle levitation (SPL) is used to measure the sorption and desorption of water vapour from microparticles comprising of Bacillus spores. Water gain is determined from increases in the weight-balancing levitation voltages. Spore water isotherms are compared to values previously reported using bulk gravimetric methods. Two salient differences are found between the SPL and bulk data: (1) greater osmotic swelling is observed in the SPL data; and (2) the SPL data exhibit open loop hysteresis while bulk data exhibit closed loop hysteresis. |
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