The term “smoke” is defined in this chapter as the
smoke aerosol or condensed phase component of the products
of combustion. This differs from the American Society
for Testing and Materials (ASTM) definition of smoke,
which includes the evolved gases as well. Smoke aerosols
varywidelyin appearance and structure,from light colored,
for droplets produced during smoldering combustion and
fuel pyrolysis, to black, for solid, carbonaceous particulate
or soot produced during flaming combustion. AIargefraction
of the radiant energy emitted from a fire results from the
blackbody emission from the soot in the flame. The subject
ofradiant heat transfer is of such importance that it is treated
in a separate chapter. This chapter focuses on smoke aerosols
outside the combustion zone