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In hydrology, bound water, is an extremely thin layer of water surrounding mineral surfaces. Water molecules have a strong electrical polarity, meaning that there is a very strong positive charge on one side of the molecule and a strong negative charge on the other. This causes the water molecules to bond to each other and to other charged ...
This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
Water content or moisture content is the quantity of water contained in a material, such as soil (called soil moisture), rock, ceramics, crops, or wood. Water content is used in a wide range of scientific and technical areas, and is expressed as a ratio, which can range from 0 (completely dry) to the value of the materials' porosity at saturation.
Specific humidity (or moisture content) is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the total mass of the air parcel. [15] Specific humidity is approximately equal to the mixing ratio, which is defined as the ratio of the mass of water vapor in an air parcel to the mass of dry air for the same parcel.
For example, pharmaceuticals that pick up more than 5% by mass, between 40 and 90% relative humidity at 25 °C, are described as hygroscopic, while materials that pick up less than 1%, under the same conditions are regarded as non-hygroscopic. [32] The amount of moisture held by hygroscopic materials is usually proportional to the relative ...
Desorption is the physical process where adsorbed atoms or molecules are released from a surface into the surrounding vacuum or fluid. This occurs when a molecule gains enough energy to overcome the activation barrier and the binding energy that keep it attached to the surface.
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 ...
Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is a measure of how many cations can be retained on soil particle surfaces. [1] Negative charges on the surfaces of soil particles bind positively-charged atoms or molecules (cations), but allow these to exchange with other positively charged particles in the surrounding soil water. [2]