The hygroscopic behavior of atmospheric aerosols has a significant effect on the global climate change. In this study, a physisorption analyzer was used to measure the water adsorption capacity of Al 2 O 3 , NaCl, NH 4 NO 3 , and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 particles at 273.6 K. Qualitative and quantitative information about water adsorption on these particles was obtained with changing the temperature and/or relative humidity (RH). Uptake of water on Al 2 O 3 showed a type-II BET adsorption isotherm with the monolayer formed at ∼18% relative humidity (RH). The hygroscopic properties of NaCl, (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , and NH 4 NO 3 , including the deliquescence relative humidities (DRH), the temperature dependence of the DRH for NH 4 NO 3 , and the growth factors of NaCl and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 were determined. All these results were in good agreement with the results obtained by other methods and/or theoretical prediction with a deviation less than 2%. For NaCl, the water adsorption amount increase rate exhibits three stages (<30% RH, ∼30%-65% RH, and >65% RH) in the predeliquescence process and monolayer thin film water was formed at about 30% RH. It demonstrated that this instrument was practicable for studying the hygroscopic behavior of both soluble and insoluble but wettable atmospheric nonviolate aerosol particles.