– How can humidity in the air be measured as a percentage? How much humidity is 100%?
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It’s not quite that air has a fixed amount of water it can hold. At the point where liquid water touches air, there are two things going on; some of the liquid molecules have enough energy to escape and become gas, and some gas water molecules hit the surface of the water and go back to being a liquid. The hotter the environment, the more likely the liquid molecules are to evaporate. The more water there is in the air, the more likely a gas water molecule will hit the surface and go back to being a liquid.
Because the rates of those processes are difficult to measure, we measure the vapor pressure as a stand-in for the rate of evaporation, and the partial pressure of water as a stand-in for the rate of condensation. Relative humidity is how those two pressures relate to each other; a partial pressure of 10% means that the partial pressure of water in the air is 10% the vapor pressure of water at that temperature.
Over 100% humidity means that water is condensing faster than it is evaporating. This is when fog happens; the water in the air starts to condense with itself to form small water droplets. However, this condensation does take time, so the atmosphere does spend some time over 100%
ELI5 the more humidity the more moisture in the air. You ever walk outside and immediately start to drip with sweat. A lot of that Is the humidity in The air. 100% humidity does not equal rain but it feels like it.
Koalafication; grew up at the oceanfront with high humidity.
It’s not quite that air has a fixed amount of water it can hold. At the point where liquid water touches air, there are two things going on; some of the liquid molecules have enough energy to escape and become gas, and some gas water molecules hit the surface of the water and go back to being a liquid. The hotter the environment, the more likely the liquid molecules are to evaporate. The more water there is in the air, the more likely a gas water molecule will hit the surface and go back to being a liquid.
Because the rates of those processes are difficult to measure, we measure the vapor pressure as a stand-in for the rate of evaporation, and the partial pressure of water as a stand-in for the rate of condensation. Relative humidity is how those two pressures relate to each other; a partial pressure of 10% means that the partial pressure of water in the air is 10% the vapor pressure of water at that temperature.
Over 100% humidity means that water is condensing faster than it is evaporating. This is when fog happens; the water in the air starts to condense with itself to form small water droplets. However, this condensation does take time, so the atmosphere does spend some time over 100%
ELI5 the more humidity the more moisture in the air. You ever walk outside and immediately start to drip with sweat. A lot of that Is the humidity in The air. 100% humidity does not equal rain but it feels like it.
Koalafication; grew up at the oceanfront with high humidity.
ELI5 the more humidity the more moisture in the air. You ever walk outside and immediately start to drip with sweat. A lot of that Is the humidity in The air. 100% humidity does not equal rain but it feels like it.
Koalafication; grew up at the oceanfront with high humidity.
It’s more accurately called “Relative Humidity”. Air can only hold so much water vapor and it changes depending on the temperature; the hotter it is, the more water vapor can be in the air. The percentage is the amount of water vapor actually in the air relative to how much can be in the air.
100% means that there is as much water vapor in the air as it can hold. Add any more and the water vapor will condense into tiny liquid water droplettes and form fog/clouds.
It’s more accurately called “Relative Humidity”. Air can only hold so much water vapor and it changes depending on the temperature; the hotter it is, the more water vapor can be in the air. The percentage is the amount of water vapor actually in the air relative to how much can be in the air.
100% means that there is as much water vapor in the air as it can hold. Add any more and the water vapor will condense into tiny liquid water droplettes and form fog/clouds.
It’s more accurately called “Relative Humidity”. Air can only hold so much water vapor and it changes depending on the temperature; the hotter it is, the more water vapor can be in the air. The percentage is the amount of water vapor actually in the air relative to how much can be in the air.
100% means that there is as much water vapor in the air as it can hold. Add any more and the water vapor will condense into tiny liquid water droplettes and form fog/clouds.
So how much water can 1 cubic <insert favorite measure of volume here> hold at 0C, 10C, 20C?
Cave of Crystals in Mexico. Air temps up to 58° C and 90-99% humidity. People can only be on the cave for 10 minutes without cooling suits.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Crystals
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