Atomization is the act and consequence of atomizing. This verb, in turn, can refer to spreading a liquid by expelling drops (spraying) or segmenting something into very small portions.
For example: “The company presented a new atomization device to facilitate fumigation tasks “, “The fragrance atomization is done automatically every hour”, “Analysts consider that the atomization of the vote harmed the opposition. “
According to DigoPaul, atomization appears in multiple contexts. As a synonym for spraying, we can speak of agricultural spraying, which consists of applying herbicides, insecticides or other products to protect crops. Tiny droplets of pesticides are thus spread over the sown land.
A process used for preserving food or drying products in a very short time is also known as atomization. With regard to drying, hot air is used in combination with low temperatures, so that the objects lose their moisture as quickly as possible.
Some of the applications of spray dryers are the following: the dehydration of emulsions and organic or aqueous solutions; micronization, a process that consists of reducing the size of the particles ; microencapsulation by means of solid matrices of various products. The volume that can be atomized per unit of time varies from one device to another; for example, you could have a minimum of 50 milliliters and a maximum of 1 liter per hour.
As can be appreciated, the applications of spray drying equipment are wide. In more concrete terms, we can say that they cover tasks typical of the food industry, such as the dehydration of yeast, milk, beer, baby food, tofu and whey, among many others, but also the microencapsulation of soybean oil using a matrix of maltodextrins or the micronization of cornstarch and lactose.
The idea of atomization can also be used with reference to a dispersion of physical or symbolic elements. A company that offers different services can bet on the atomization of its businesses, distributing its resources in various sectors: the same company, within this framework, can provide telephony services, Internet connection, satellite television, content production and equipment sale telecommunications.
Such a tactic can be very beneficial in compensating the poor performance of a sector with that of the strongest at every step, but it also carries certain risks, such as the loss of definition in the market from the point of view of consumers, without counting the increased complexity at the organizational level (both in the accounting department and in the research and development department) and the potential legal conflicts (lawsuits for copyright, restrictions for distribution in some regions).
The economy reserves a special meaning for the term atomization, and it becomes the main feature of a market in which there are many sellers and buyers (which exert actions of supply and demand necessary for subsistence) but none of them has a preponderant position, that is to say that there is no seller or buyer whose decisions could alter the market equilibrium.
In the field of politics, there is talk of atomisation of the electorate when the votes are distributed among many parties. Suppose that, in a country, for many decades 90% of the votes were distributed between the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party. One year, however, that same flow of votes was shared between the Socialist Party, the Liberal Party, the Party of Revolutionary Socialism, the People’s Party and the Communist Party. As can be seen, there was an atomization of the votes.