GEOG 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Dew Point Depression, Mixing Ratio, Dew Point
Document Summary
Water cycle- always in motion and changing states: sun drives it. Properties of water: one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. Hydrogren bond: attract in between polarity of two adjacent molecules, good solvent, strong surface tension > forms drops, water rises in objects due to capillary action, less dense when it freezes. Equilibrium- equal number of molecules go back and forth between gas and liquid: higher energy= evaporation, lower energy= condensation. How is water vapor measured in the atmosphere: absolute humidity- measure of water vapor content of air. Warm air can hold more water vapor. Maximum amount of water vapor that can exist in the air is water vapor capacity: more energy to maintain gaseous state, below this amount the air is unsaturated, if at the maximum level it is saturated. Saturated air is when clouds and fog form. Wednesday, september 27, 2017: vapor pressure- pressure contributed by water vapor.
