I understand how water molecules become gaseous when heated to 100 degrees, but there is no point in drying when the clothes would get that hot, so how does the water leave the clothes?
In: Physics
There’s a limit to which air can carry water in it. And this is usually expressed by its temperature. So the amount of water air can carry depends on the temperature of the air. Now air is a composition of many gases. Oxygen, nitrogen etc all of them are in their gaseous forms. All of them exert some partial pressure to sum up to atmospheric pressure(at sea level) and more a particular gas is in the air, more partial pressure it exerts. And this should include water as well. At normal pressure of 1atm, water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. But when you take water at a lower pressure, if boils at lower temperatures and you can see this in regions of higher altitudes where you can find water boiling at 70 degree centigrade. Similarly, at room temperature, there exists a pressure value that water can boil at which is lower than atmospheric pressure. And when you start with dry air and put water in it, slowly the water will start to evaporate until the partial pressure of water reaches the pressure water will start to boil. So, to dry clothes there are several factors that’ll help, you need to increase the airs temperature so as to increase its water carrying capacity, increase air flow to facilitate the boiling process or supply it with dehumidified air. Radiators supply heated air and if it’s put outside, the air velocity will help with the boiling of air and if it’s under the sun, it’ll keep the temperatures up.
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