Re: Help with understanding humidity and dew point


"I R A Darth Aggie" <n0b0dy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrnfm5va7.t35.n0b0dy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:03:29 -0600,
Bill Habr <billhabr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, in
<pkB8j.32113$Pv2.18470@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

+ The reason the relative humidity in
+ the atmosphere doesn't get much above 100%

You need to qualify that statment.

There are conditions where supersaturation occurs, and the values are
significantly larger than 100%.

"Supersaturation" is used to mean relative humidity above 100%. Relative humidity, with
respect to water, in the atmosphere rarely gets above 103 % in clouds, the reason is that
droplets have something to form on. If you take a container with smooth enough sides you
could create 300% to 400% relative humidity before you would SEE the condensation.



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.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Relative Humindity
    ... that temps of over 100° and over 100% relative humidity can exist at ... It's called supersaturation. ... "The statement that relative humidity can never be above 100%, ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: Relative Humindity
    ... that temps of over 100° and over 100% relative humidity can exist at ... I found the following paragraph in an article about relative humidity on the Wikipedia site... ... "The statement that relative humidity can never be above 100%, while a fairly good guide, is not absolutely accurate, without a more sophisticated definition of humidity than the one given here. ... An arguable exception is the Wilson cloud chamber which uses, in nuclear physics experiments, an extremely brief state of "supersaturation" to accomplish its function." ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
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