Condensation inside the walls of a bottle

[Sofi Michaelian]

When I leave a closed half full bottle of water overnight, the next morning I find condensation on the inside walls of the bottle BUT! Only where sun light has reached it! I thought this was widely known and easy to explain, but I've been looking on the Internet for a while and haven't found a thing about it. Can someone explain to me why water doesn't condensate on the shaded side?

 

[Simon Bridge]

Welcome to PF;
Hang on ... misread.
You are finding water droplets only on the sunny side and not on the shaded side?
The condensation is due to cycling heat inside the bottle - persistent condensate means the air inside is hotter than outside - which will be more the case by the region in direct sunlight.

Water droplets may also tend to clump more on the sunny side due to a local photostatic charge there.

The process can be quite complicated - does it happen for all bottles placed there or just older ones?

 

[Sofi Michaelian]

Yeah, that's what I ment. Sorry for my bad English, It's not my first language :C . Thank you for answering. I'm not sure but I think I've seen it in all bottles. I'm actualy planning on doing some experiments to see if it's light or heat the main cause. I'll upload a picture tomorrow.
Thank you again for your answer.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Compare glass and plastic bottles. Check them before the sun comes up too... then frequently as the sun rises.

 

[Salvia Dorri]

Good evening, I'm sorry I'm years late to this conversation and that I don't see any followers. I've bee intrigued by this subject and been curiously been observing inside condensation for a while now. My observations have been that not only does water tend to migrate towards light and away from dark objects but also seems to have a memory if not intention to migrate to where light was last or may even come from next. It seems more light related than heat. I've put water in bottles in a room dark room 4 floors under ground for the weekend and come back to find the condensation pointing to the door. Anyway thank you, I've not found anyone else interested in this subject and it's become quite a curiosity for me.
Regards,

 

[russ_watters]

It seems more light related than heat.

Light is radiated heat.

 

[Salvia Dorri]

I dig it! It's the behavior in the dark that's intriguing me. I have a bottle on my desk and my printer (black in color) sets about 8 inches or so away. My office is 4 stories underground and completely dark in the night. When I come in in the morning the condensation is opposite the printer and has contours as if avoiding any shadowy external influences. Surely it is an attraction to particular radiations. My mind goes towards would it turn a wheel? A generator?? A planet?? Deep end, sorry. Lol, thank you for providing insight!

 

[russ_watters]

I dig it! It's the behavior in the dark that's intriguing me. I have a bottle on my desk and my printer (black in color) sets about 8 inches or so away. My office is 4 stories underground and completely dark in the night. When I come in in the morning the condensation is opposite the printer and has contours as if avoiding any shadowy external influences. Surely it is an attraction to particular radiations. My mind goes towards would it turn a wheel? A generator?? A planet?? Deep end, sorry. Lol, thank you for providing insight!

Is the printer warm? Is there a breeze from the door?

 

[geoffg]

I ran across this today, actually. Out of curiosity, I've searched around on the internet to see if there is an explanation. I usually have a plastic water bottle on my computer desk at home and noticed condensation only on one side of the water bottle. The side that has no condensation is about 3 inches from my computer monitor (which is almost always on). The thing that intrigued me is that after I noticed the condensation I swished the water around in the bottle to get rid of the condensation but after a few minutes (I have not timed it) the condensation reformed in the exact same pattern. I grabbed a second water bottle at with about the same amount of water removed from it and it is doing the same thing. Different pattern of condensation, but still reforming as the same pattern prior to swishing the water around. Also, the condensation is only on the inside of the water bottle.

I'm mostly interested in the patterns of condensation and why it keeps coming back the same way. Wondering if its saliva or oil from the inside of the water bottle causing the water vapor to adhere to the walls of the bottle in the same pattern.

 

[russ_watters]

Can you take a picture of the bottle where it is sitting? Really, this is just a game of "Find the Heat Source/Sink".

 

[geoffg]

I more or less understand the why of the condensation part. Like I had mentioned, I'm more interested in the patterns of the forming condensation and how it keeps coming back the same way each time.

 

[geoffg]

The patterns remind me of fractals such as ice crystals, rivers, and lightning bolts. Is that due to static and is the "rainbow-ish" hue due to the plastic of the bottle?