Why does heating decrease the humidity? How can humidity be relative to temperature??

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Recently came across the phenomenon that heating a room apparently decreases the humidity. If it was just that heating the space makes a lot of the water condense out of the air, eg onto window panes or other surfaces, then I could accept that. But the bit my brain can’t get around is that if it’s 80% humidity but 2celcius outside, and it’s say 70% humidity and 15celcius inside, why is it helpful to open a window? The warm air inside would be cooled, but surely the water in the air outside would diffuse in and raise the humidity in the room? I feel like I’m missing something really obvious here :/

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It doesn’t. Heating decreases the relative humidity, because the hot air can hold more water without it condensing.

The absolute humidity remains the same if you just heat the air.

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