Fatty acid molecules released during cooking may be enhancing the formation of clouds, which have a major cooling effect on the planet, according to a study.
Scientists demonstrated for the first time that fatty acid molecules emitted from from deep fat fryers during cooking can spontaneously form complex 3-D structures in atmospheric aerosol droplets, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The team believes that the formation of these highly ordered structures is likely to extend the atmospheric lifetimes of these molecules and affects how clouds form.
“It is known that fatty acid molecules coating the surface of aerosol particles in the atmosphere may affect the aerosol’s ability to seed cloud formation,” Christian Pfrang, from the University of Reading in the UK.