3 min read
Cloud Chemistry: What the Visible Vapor Tells Us About the Invisible Risk
The visible cloud exhaled by a vaper is mostly water, propylene glycol, and glycerin. The invisible fraction—the ultrafine particles, the thermal degradation products—is where the risk lives. The cloud you see is not the cloud that matters.
The cloud that vapers exhale is visible because the propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin absorb water from the air, forming droplets that scatter light. The visible cloud is mostly harmless. The invisible fraction—the ultrafine particles, the carbonyl compounds, the trace metals from the coil—is where the health risk lives. **The cloud you see is not the cloud that matters. The risk is in what you can't see—and it varies dramatically by device, temperature, and e-liquid composition.**
