reflected toward one another to create the shock diamonds significant shear forces are produced in the liquid gas stream 60 which ideally does not separate from the deflector surface although the emitter is still effective if separation occurs as shown at 60 a the water entrained proximate to the second shock front 56 is subjected to these shear forces which are the primary mechanism for atomization the water also encounters the shock diamonds 58 which are a secondary source of water atomization thus the emitter 10 operates with multiple mechanisms of atomization which produce water particles 62 less than 20 u03bcm in diameter the majority of the particles being measured at less than 5 u03bcm the smaller droplets are buoyant in air this characteristic allows them to maintain proximity to the fire source for greater fire suppression effect furthermore the particles maintain significant downward momentum allowing the liquid gas stream 60 to overcome the rising plume of combustion gases resulting from a fire measurements show the liquid gas stream having a velocity of 1 200 ft min 18 inches from the emitter and a velocity of 700 ft min 8 feet from the emitter the flow from the emitter is observed to impinge on the floor of the room in which it is operated the sweep back angle 32 of the.