Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Condensation forming in the low pressure zone above the wing of an aircraft due to adiabatic expansion. Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle. [1]
In technical terms, the dew point is the temperature at which the water vapor in a sample of air at constant barometric pressure condenses into liquid water at the same rate at which it evaporates. [7] At temperatures below the dew point, the rate of condensation will be greater than that of evaporation, forming more liquid water.
Condensation in the atmosphere forms cloud droplets. Also, a net condensation of water vapor occurs on surfaces when the temperature of the surface is at or below the dew point temperature of the atmosphere. Deposition is a phase transition separate from condensation which leads to the direct formation of ice from water vapor.
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.
The lifting condensation level or lifted condensation level (LCL) is the height at which the relative humidity (RH) of an air parcel will reach 100% with respect to liquid water when it is cooled by dry adiabatic lifting.
For example, if a container filled with water vapour at slightly below the saturation pressure is suddenly cooled, perhaps by adiabatic expansion, as in a cloud chamber, the vapour may become supersaturated with respect to liquid water. It is then in a metastable state, and we may expect condensation to take place.
A rising parcel of air containing water vapor, if it rises far enough, reaches its lifted condensation level: it becomes saturated with water vapor (see Clausius–Clapeyron relation). If the parcel of air continues to rise, water vapor condenses and releases its latent heat to the surrounding air, partially offsetting the adiabatic cooling.
Temperature-dependency of the heats of vaporization for water, methanol, benzene, and acetone. In thermodynamics, the enthalpy of vaporization (symbol ∆H vap), also known as the (latent) heat of vaporization or heat of evaporation, is the amount of energy that must be added to a liquid substance to transform a quantity of that substance into a gas.