Can clothes dry without any air movement

[jamesabc]

say there was no wind at all, no air movement. would your clothes still dry?

 

[marcusl]

Yes, if the room were large enough. Water would evaporate from the clothing and slowly diffuse outwards.

 

[jamesabc]

Yes, if the room were large enough. Water would evaporate from the clothing and slowly diffuse outwards.

even if the air molecules were frozen in space as if it were a solid, would the water still diffuse?

 

[uart]

By air movement it was assumed that you meant macroscopic air currents (aka wind), in which case marcusl has already given you the correct answer.

If you are referring to both air and water frozen solid at absolute zero (-273.15 degrees) then could you please repost your question to make that clear.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Clothes would dry extremely well in vacuum.

 

[Doug Huffman]

Diffusion occurs in solids. Vacuum/freeze drying is effective and incorporates sublimation. At absolute zero physical processes are much reduced.

 

[Bloke]

The water vapour would be less dense than the surrounding air, so it would make it's own air movement.

 

[Doug Huffman]

STP air density is about 1.2 kg m^3. Air molecular mass averages about 29 while water is 18. Maybe the bloke's "movement" is buoyancy?

 

[JohnniG]

Clothes would dry extremely well in vacuum.

How come?

 

[mgb_phys]

How come?

There's not a lot of vapour pressure - the water would instantly boil

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

And boiling is just another word for the water molecules diffusing out of the clothes.