Overview of Grain Models

Abstract

The properties of interstellar grains can now be defined by a rapidly growing wealth of observational data. We rely upon models to combine these data with unobserved properties such as the size distribution of grains, their structure and shape, and their detailed chemical composition, in a self-consistent manner. I will review the observational constraints which define the boundaries for possible models and will then summarize the features of the three quasi-comprehensive grain models most commonly referred to in the current literature. I will conclude by discussing recent work dealing with single aspects of interstellar grains and the phenomena attributed to them.