This document discusses key concepts relating to humidity and the measurement of water vapor in air. It defines important terms like vapor pressure, saturation vapor pressure, relative humidity and dewpoint. Measurement devices are described, including psychrometers that use the wet-bulb depression principle and other hygrometers. Geographic and seasonal variations in atmospheric moisture levels are also summarized.
This document discusses key concepts relating to humidity and the measurement of water vapor in air. It defines important terms like vapor pressure, saturation vapor pressure, relative humidity and dewpoint. Measurement devices are described, including psychrometers that use the wet-bulb depression principle and other hygrometers. Geographic and seasonal variations in atmospheric moisture levels are also summarized.
Properties of water vapor Terminology Measurement of humidity Geographic distribution of humidity Time variation in humidity The process by which liquid water is converted into vapor is called vaporization or evaporation.\
Since kinetic energy increases and surface tension
decreases as temperature rises, the rate of evaporation increases with temperature.
Molecules may leave a snow or ice surface in the
same manner as they leave n. liquid. The process whereby n. solid is transformed directly to the vapor state, and vice versa, is called sublimation. In any mixture of gases, each gas exerts a partial pressure independent of the other gases. The partial pressure exerted by water vapor is called vapor pressure.
Water vapor in a closed container of moist air with
an initial total pressure p were removed, the final pressure p' of the dry air alone would be less than p. The vapor pressure e would be the difference between the pressure of the moist air and that of the dry air, or p – p'. The maximum amount of water vapor for a given temperature is contained in a given space, the space is said to be saturated. The pressure exerted by the vapor in a saturated space is called the saturation vapor pressure, which, for all practical purposes, is the maximum vapor pressure possible at a given temperature. The process by which vapor changes to the liquid or solid state is called condensation.
Note: “If the space is not saturated, the rate of
vaporization will exceed the rate of condensation, resulting in a net evaporation. l If the space is saturated, the rates of vaporization and condensation balance, provided that the water and air temperatures are the same.” The latent heat of vaporization is the amount of heat absorb d by a unit mass of a substance, without change in temperature, while passing from the liquid to the vapor state. The change from vapor to the liquid state releases an equivalent amount of heat known as the latent heat of condensation. The heat of vaporization of water 𝐻𝑣 (cal/g) varies with temperature but may be determined accurately up to 40°C by 𝐻𝑣 = 597.3 − 0.56𝑇 (1) where T is the temperature in degrees centigrade.
The latent heat of fusion for water is the amount of
heat required to convert one gram of ice to liquid water at the same temperature. When 1 g of liquid water at 0° freezes into ice at the same temperature, the latent heat of fusion (79.7 cal/g) is liberated. The latent heat of sublimation for water is the amount of heat required to convert one gram of ice into vapor at the same temperature without passing through the intermediate liquid state. It is equal to the sum of the latent heat of vaporization and the latent heat of fusion. At 0°C, it is about 677 cal/g The specific gravity of water vapor is 0.622 that of dry air at the same temperature and pressure. The density of water vapor p. in grams per cubic centimeter is 𝑒 𝜌𝑣 = 0.622 𝑅 𝑇 (3) 𝑜 where T is the absolute temperature (C) and 𝑅𝑔 , the gas constant, equals 2.87 X 10³ when the vapor pressure e is in millibars. The density of dry air 𝜌𝑑 in grams per cubic centimeter is 𝜌𝑑 = 𝑅 𝑑𝑇 (3) 𝑝 𝑔 where 𝑝𝑑 is the pressure in millibars.
The density of moist air is equal to the mass of
water vapor plus the mass of dry air in a unit volume of the mixture. If 𝑝𝑎 is the total pressure of the moist air, 𝑝𝑎 − 𝑒 will be the partial pressure of the dry air alone. Adding Eqs. (2) and (3) and substituting 𝑝𝑎 − 𝑒 for 𝑝𝑑 , 𝑝𝑎 𝑒 𝜌𝑎 = (1 − 0.378 𝑝 ) (4) 𝑅𝑔 𝑇 𝑎 Vapor pressure 𝑒 in millibars can be computed from the empirical psychrometric equation 𝑇 −32 𝑤 𝑒 = 𝑒𝑠 − 0.000367𝑝𝑎 (𝑇 − 𝑇𝑤 ) (1 + 1571 ) (5) where 𝑇 − 𝑇𝑤 are the dry- and wet-bulb temperatures (F), respectively, and e, is the saturation vapor pressure in millibars corresponding to 𝑇𝑤 .
The relative humidity 𝑓 is the percentage ratio of
the actual to the saturation vapor pressure and is therefore a ratio of the amount of moisture in a given space to the amount the space could contain if saturated. 𝑒 𝑓 = 100 𝑒 (6) 𝑠 The dewpoint 𝑇𝑑 is the temperature at which the air becomes saturated when cooled under constant pressure and with constant water-vapor content. It is thus the temperature having a saturation vapor pressure 𝑒𝑠 equal to the existing vapor pressure 𝑒.
The specific humidity 𝑞ℎ , usually expressed in
grams per kilogram, is the mass of water vapor per unit mass of moist air. 𝑒 𝑒 𝑞ℎ = 622 𝑝 ≈ 622 𝑝 (7) 𝑎 −0.378 𝑎 where 𝑝𝑎 is the total pressure (millibars) of the air. The total amount of water vapor in a layer of air is often expressed as the depth of precipitable water 𝑊𝑝 , 𝑊𝑝 = 0.0004𝑞ℎ ∆𝑝𝑎 (8) where the pressure 𝑝𝑎 is in millibars and 𝑞ℎ , in grams per kilogram, is the average of the specific humidities at the top and bottom of each layer. Psychrometer - consists of two thermometers, one with it bulb covered by a jacket of clean muslin saturated with water. The thermometer are ventilated by whirling or by use of a fan. - Because of the cooling effect of evaporation, the moistened, or wet-bulb, thermometer reads lower than the dry, the difference in degrees being known as the wet-bulb depression Hair hygrometer - makes use of the fact that length of hair varies with relative humidity. The changes are transmitted to a pointer indicating the relative humidity on a graduated scale
Dewpoint hygrometer - which measures dewpoint
directly and is used mostly for laboratory purposes, consists of a highly polished metal vessel containing a suitable liquid which is cooled by any of several methods.
Spectroscopic hygrometer - measures the selective
absorption of light in certain bands of the spectrum by water vapor. With the sun as a light source, it has been used to measure total atmospheric moisture. Atmospheric moisture tend to decrease with increasing latitude, but relative humidity, being an inverse function of temperature, tends to increase. Atmospheric moisture is greatest over oceans and decreases with distance inland. It also decreases with elevation and is greater over vegetation than over barren soil. Like temperature, atmospheric moisture is at a maximum in summer and at a minimum in winter.