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In hot summer weather, a rise in relative humidity increases the apparent temperature to humans (and other animals) by hindering the evaporation of perspiration from the skin. For example, according to the heat index, a relative humidity of 75% at air temperature of 80.0 °F (26.7 °C) would feel like 83.6 ± 1.3 °F (28.7 ± 0.7 °C). [13] [14]
The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. [1] This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air.
Determining relative humidity: The percent relative humidity can be located at the intersection of the vertical dry bulb and diagonally down sloping wet bulb temperature lines. Metric (SI): Using a dry bulb of 25 °C and a wet bulb of 20 °C, read the relative humidity at approximately 63.5%.
The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that may be achieved by evaporative cooling of a water-wetted, ventilated surface.. By contrast, the dew point is the temperature to which the ambient air must be cooled to reach 100% relative humidity assuming there is no further evaporation into the air; it is the temperature where condensation (dew) and clouds would form.
When the two tendencies are in balance— and the air and food are stable—the air's relative humidity (expressed as a fraction instead of as a percentage) is taken to be the water activity, a w. Thus, water activity is the thermodynamic activity of water as solvent and the relative humidity of the surrounding air at equilibrium.
In ecology, it is the difference between the water vapour pressure and the saturation water vapour pressure at a particular temperature. Unlike relative humidity, vapour-pressure deficit has a simple nearly straight-line relationship to the rate of evapotranspiration and other measures of evaporation.
The AT index used here is based on a mathematical model of an adult, walking outdoors, in the shade (Steadman 1984). The AT is defined as the temperature, at the reference humidity level, producing the same amount of discomfort as that experienced under the current ambient temperature and humidity. [6] The formula [7] is:
The relationship between water content and equilibrium relative humidity of a material can be displayed graphically by a curve, the so-called moisture sorption isotherm. For each humidity value, a sorption isotherm indicates the corresponding water content value at a given temperature. If the composition or quality of the material changes, then ...