It's quite simple. Water vapor - H2O molecules in a gaseous state - are
what causes light to scatter. The colder the air, the less water vapor it
can contain. Therefore there is less scattering of light resulting in a
clearer view.
At 01:02 PM 12/3/2002 -0500, you wrote:
It was about 9 degrees
Forgot to add that dry air seems more "clear" since it contains less
water droplets to diffract the light.
Steven Desjardins
Department of Chemistry
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
(540) 458-8873
FAX: (540) 458-8878
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/03/02 01:21PM >>>
T
Robert Soames Wetmore wrote:
>
> It was about 9 degrees Fahrenheit this morning and very clear out. It seems
> it is usually or often clear when very cold. Dumb question but is this some
> kind of rule: is it always/usually clearer when cold? And why? Is it
> because of the cold, or some oth
Rob,
Weather is the result of air having a different ability to carry moisture at different
temperatures. Water dissolves into air, and hot air can carry/absorbe a lot more
water.
When this warm air gets cold, the moisture has to go somewhere... into rain or snow or
Fog. And then it falls on
The vapor pressure of water goes up with temperature, so there is a
tendency to have less humidity (more water in the liquid state) in
colder conditions. Of course, the atmosphere is such a massively
non-equilibrium system that its hard to apply simple thermodynamic
arguments. Deserts are dry wi
It was about 9 degrees Fahrenheit this morning and very clear out. It seems
it is usually or often clear when very cold. Dumb question but is this some
kind of rule: is it always/usually clearer when cold? And why? Is it
because of the cold, or some other related factor which may be present
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