Particle size

Granulometry
Basic concepts
Particle size · Grain size Size distribution · Morphology
Methods and techniques
Mesh scale · Optical granulometry Sieve analysis · Soil gradation
Related concepts
Granulation · Granular material Mineral dust · Pattern recognition Dynamic light scattering

Particle size is a introduced for comparing dimensions of solid particles (flecks), liquid particles (droplets), or gaseous particles (bubbles). The notion of particle size applies to colloidal particles, particles in ecology, particles present in granular material (whether airborne or not), and particles that form a granular material (see also grain size).

There are several methods for measuring particle size and particle size distribution. Some of them are based on light, other on ultrasound, or electric field, or gravity, or centrifugation.

In all methods the size is an indirect measure, obtained by a model that transforms, in abstract way, the real particle shape into a simple and standarized shape, like a sphere (the most usual) or a cuboid (when minimum bounding box is used), where the size parameter (ex. diameter of sphere) makes sense. Exception is the mathematical morphology approach, where no shape hypothesis is necessary.

Definition of the particle size for an ensemble (collection) of particles presents another problem. Real systems are practically always polydisperse, which means that the particles in an ensemble have different sizes. The notion of particle size distribution reflects this polydispersity. There is often a need for a certain average particle size for the ensemble of particles.

...
Wikipedia