Evaporative cooling of microscopic water droplets in vacuo: Molecular dynamics simulations and kinetic gas theory

In the present study, we investigate the process of evaporative cooling of nanometer-sized droplets in vacuum using molecular dynamics simulations with the TIP4P/2005 water model. The results are compared to the temperature evolution calculated from the Knudsen theory of evaporation which is derived from kinetic gas theory. The calculated and simulation results are found to be in very good agreement for an evaporation coefficient equal to unity. Our results are of interest to experiments utilizing droplet dispensers as well as to cloud micro-physics.