- #1
Edison Bias
- 105
- 5
Hi!
I wonder how water vapour can reach the sky while its temperature is far from the boiling point? I have learned that water is lighther than air and this is said to be the reason for water vapour to reach the sky. The trick question is however, how does water become vapour in the first place? I have also learned from Wikipedia that temperature is an average concept. So what we have is an average temperature, meaning some molecules has a higher temperature some a lower temperature.
Considering
[tex]E_k=\frac{mv^2}{2}\propto kT[/tex]
we then have different speeds of the sitting water molecules and some of them actually has a temperature (or speed) higher than the boiling point so things then "dry up" in the sense that water is vaporized. Let't take an example: if the temperature on the ground is 25C, molecules with just twice of that average speed actually get vaporized. I may be far from the truth but what is then the true explanation of water becoming vapour so much that it can rise to the clouds?
Edison
I wonder how water vapour can reach the sky while its temperature is far from the boiling point? I have learned that water is lighther than air and this is said to be the reason for water vapour to reach the sky. The trick question is however, how does water become vapour in the first place? I have also learned from Wikipedia that temperature is an average concept. So what we have is an average temperature, meaning some molecules has a higher temperature some a lower temperature.
Considering
[tex]E_k=\frac{mv^2}{2}\propto kT[/tex]
we then have different speeds of the sitting water molecules and some of them actually has a temperature (or speed) higher than the boiling point so things then "dry up" in the sense that water is vaporized. Let't take an example: if the temperature on the ground is 25C, molecules with just twice of that average speed actually get vaporized. I may be far from the truth but what is then the true explanation of water becoming vapour so much that it can rise to the clouds?
Edison