How do you cool down a room without drying out the air?
In: Physics
In my country most residential places don’t have air con and we use electric fans to just waft the air around.
Part of how an air conditioning system works relies on the current air interacting with something cold. When warm air hits something cold it results in condensation, which is moisture that was once in the air. Additionally, the amount of moisture able to be suspended in the air is reliant on the temperature of the air. The warmer the air, the higher the maximum amount of moisture able to be held as “humidity”. In a high humidity climate, cooling the air may also result in a loss of moisture in the air due to the reduced saturation point of the air. I’m not sure if there’s another way to mechanical cool the air, or if it prevents moisture loss, but I’m thinking no.
Forgot this was eli5. The way that air gets dried via air conditioning is that the inside coil gets cold enough that water condenses on it and runs off the coil into a drain.
Other types if cooling that dont rely on the typical heat exchanger would be a swamp cooler where air mixes with particles of water and the water absorbs the heat making the air cool but still moist.
You would cool the air slower so that the cold air does not reach 100% humidity. Because at 100% humidity, the water vapor in the air condenses.
By slower I mean the cold part of the cooler does not get as cold.
One way is to not use air conditioners to do the cooling but instead rely on cool night air and good insulation. If the house is always occupied during the daytime, however, you may end up with the opposite problem: high humidity due to sweaty humans and shut windows – very bad for old people.
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