This paper describes the results of the first stage of an investigation designed to extend present knowledge of the factors affecting aerosol production, transport, vaporization, and atomization in analytical spectroscopy systems. It focuses on factors controlling aspiration of aqueous solutions. The results demonstrate that the effect of gas flow on the pressure drop induced at the tip of the solution draw tube can be described by a simple linear equation; that the relationship between gas flow rate and solution nebulization rate can also be modelled by a simple equation; and that these relationships are not adequately represented by the Hagen-Poiseulle equation, as is often claimed.
