The electrodynamic balance and light-scattering techniques have been used to study the kinetics of microdroplet evaporation and attendant interfacial phenomena. In the electrodynamic balance a single microdroplet was suspended and adjusted in a polarized laser beam. The scattered light from the microdroplet was detected by a 512-element linear photodiode array and a photomultiplier tube at the scattering angle of 90°. Comparing the light-scattering profile (intensity versus scattering angle) and the resonance spectra with Mie theory

the size and the change of the microdroplet were determined precisely. The techniques have been used to measure the slow evaporation of organic microdroplets

rapid evaporation of water microdroplets

and rapid evaporation of microdroplets of aqueous surfactant solutions. The experimental results show that the interiacial temperatures of rapid evaporation.microdroplets estimated from the data are significantly lower than the surrounding gas temperature; insoluble monolayer formed by surfactant at the microdroplet interface greatly reduces the evaporation rate and microdroplet fission due to interfacial charge effects can occur below the Rayleigh limit

and the charge and the mass loss before and after a fission can be determined by using suspension voltage measurements combined with light-scattering techniques.