Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Section B / 7 / a / Solution

The mass and surface area of the spherical droplet are $m=(4\pi /3)\rho r^3$ and $A=4\pi r^2$. Constant surface mass accretion rate $\beta$ meansTherefore $\dot{r}=\beta /\rho =\mu$, and the initial radius givesHere $[\beta ]=\mathrm{kg}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, $[\rho ]=\mathrm{kg}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$, and $[\mu ]=\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. This surface-fed growth of an accreting sphere law assumes constant droplet mass density.