Random cooling idea

[CowKing]

A random idea popped in my head the other day when I bought a humidifier (nose bleeds due to dry weather). Would the humidity of the air have any bearing on the ability of that air to cool more efficiently (carry more heat)?

 

The reason being that since water can transfer thermal energy a whole hell of a lot better than air, why not try to put as much moisture in the air as possible to it transfer more heat? I know that the warmer the air gets the more moisture the air can carry, and there would probably only be a small area of temperature range that this would work between.

 

I'm not foolish enough to think that this would have an significant (>5* C) impact on the temperature of the components, but it was just a weird thought.

 

or maybe I'm just crazy.

[zackhaf]

I think it would offset itself. as you say, warmer air can carry more moisture, so you may benefit from the water content, but i think the warmer air would offset the gains.

[Stonerboy779]

My issue is why do you want moisture inside your case? that seems like an exceptionally hazardous senario

[CowKing]

My issue is why do you want moisture inside your case? that seems like an exceptionally hazardous senario

......you do know what humidity is right?

[Locutus]

......you do know what humidity is right?

Humid air tends to create condensation on cool surfaces.

[Black64]

My issue is why do you want moisture inside your case? that seems like an exceptionally hazardous senario

 

Well there's your problem.

[CowKing]

Humid air tends to create condensation on cool surfaces.

except there's nothing on or in the computer that would be below the ambient air temperature unless there is a secret refrigerator in my computer.

[Locutus]

except there's nothing on or in the computer that would be below the ambient air temperature unless there is a secret refrigerator in my computer.

There will be fluctuations in your houses temperature though. Either way it's not really going to help the exchange of heat by much, down here in Florida the humidity is often at 100% and it's usually not a good thing.

[Boinker]

you can try it. I have my doubts you will get any performance increase but in the same right and respect electrical products have limitations that they can operate in. Temperatures and humidity are the two big ones and I have read on a motherboard Manuel more then one time to stay away from 85% or greater humidity and exterior temperaters of 120f... I am pretty sure a humidifyer shoots up the humidity a lot but you do run the risk of frying it.

[Kamikaze_Badger]

Smart guy says no.

 

The strange shapes of the curves were rather surprising. With increasing moisture content the thermal conductivity decreases' date=' contrary to what I expected. Three effects play a role: the thermal conductivity of dry air, the thermal conductivity of water vapor, and the humidity of the air. It appears that the thermal conductivity of water vapor is lower than that of air.

 

An explanation is given by the rigid-sphere theory of gases, stating that the thermal conductivity is proportional to the specific heat (cv) and inversely proportional to the square of the diameter (d) of the molecule. While water vapor has a higher cv than dry air, d is somewhat larger, resulting in a somewhat smaller thermal conductivity at the same temperature (at room temperature: 0.018 vs. 0.025 W/m�K).

 

With increasing temperature the mole fraction of water vapor increases, as well as the thermal conductivity of dry air. The three effects create the strange shapes. Luckily for me, my standard answer still holds: Nothing to worry about, except when you are after maximum accuracy and all other sources of uncertainty are being addressed at the same time.[/quote']

 

Been a couple years since I took chemistry, but I think that explains it well.

[CowKing]

Smart guy says no.

 

The strange shapes of the curves were rather surprising. With increasing moisture content the thermal conductivity decreases, contrary to what I expected. Three effects play a role: the thermal conductivity of dry air, the thermal conductivity of water vapor, and the humidity of the air. It appears that the thermal conductivity of water vapor is lower than that of air.

 

An explanation is given by the rigid-sphere theory of gases, stating that the thermal conductivity is proportional to the specific heat (cv) and inversely proportional to the square of the diameter (d) of the molecule. While water vapor has a higher cv than dry air, d is somewhat larger, resulting in a somewhat smaller thermal conductivity at the same temperature (at room temperature: 0.018 vs. 0.025 W/m�K).

 

With increasing temperature the mole fraction of water vapor increases, as well as the thermal conductivity of dry air. The three effects create the strange shapes. Luckily for me, my standard answer still holds: Nothing to worry about, except when you are after maximum accuracy and all other sources of uncertainty are being addressed at the same time.

 

Been a couple years since I took chemistry, but I think that explains it well.

well, I guess that's that.

[d6bmg]

or maybe I'm just crazy.

 

Simple answer to the whole topic: yes, you are.