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The boiling point of water is the temperature at which the saturated vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure. Water supercooled below its normal freezing point has a higher vapor pressure than that of ice at the same temperature and is, thus, unstable. Calculations of the (saturation) vapor pressure of water are commonly used in meteorology.
A log-lin vapor pressure chart for various liquids. As a general trend, vapor pressures of liquids at ambient temperatures increase with decreasing boiling points. This is illustrated in the vapor pressure chart (see right) that shows graphs of the vapor pressures versus temperatures for a variety of liquids. [7]
where temperature T is in degrees Celsius (°C) and saturation vapor pressure P is in kilopascals (kPa). According to Monteith and Unsworth, "Values of saturation vapour pressure from Tetens' formula are within 1 Pa of exact values up to 35 °C." Murray (1967) provides Tetens' equation for temperatures below 0 °C: [3]
Values are given in terms of temperature necessary to reach the specified pressure. Valid results within the quoted ranges from most equations are included in the table for comparison. A conversion factor is included into the original first coefficients of the equations to provide the pressure in pascals (CR2: 5.006, SMI: -0.875).
Because the amount of water vapor in the air is small, relative humidity, the ratio of the partial pressure due to the water vapor to the saturated partial vapor pressure, is much more useful. Vapor pressure above 100% relative humidity is called supersaturated and can occur if the air is rapidly cooled, for example, by rising suddenly in an ...
However, its empirical value remains important: the unique combination of pressure and temperature at which liquid water, solid ice, and water vapor coexist in a stable equilibrium is approximately 273.16 ± 0.0001 K [4] and a vapor pressure of 611.657 pascals (6.11657 mbar; 0.00603659 atm). [5] [6]
The Kelvin equation describes the change in vapour pressure due to a curved liquid–vapor interface, such as the surface of a droplet. The vapor pressure at a convex curved surface is higher than that at a flat surface. The Kelvin equation is dependent upon thermodynamic principles and does not allude to special properties of materials.
The definition of a w is where p is the partial water vapor pressure in equilibrium with the solution, and p* is the (partial) vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature. An alternate definition can be a w ≡ l w x w {\displaystyle a_{w}\equiv l_{w}x_{w}} where l w is the activity coefficient of water and x w is the mole fraction of ...