Sunday, February 12, 2012

A Study of Evaporation


Motivated by "Citizen Science" advocate Forest Mimms' and his studies of the atmosphere, I decided to run an initial experiment of water evaporation (or perhaps sublimation) during the New England winter.

Method:

1.  Place 500 ml of room temperature water in a plastic pan
2.  The pan is 10" x 6" = 0.03876 meters squared surface area
3.  Record the initial weight of water and pan in grams
4.  Place the pan in a standard location, shielded from wind, at 6:30 am daily (when I leave for work :)
5. Expose to the atmosphere for 24 hours
6. Record the final weight of water and pan in grams, obtain grams water evaporated
7. Quantify daily observation as grams water / meters squared / hour
8. Do no record results for days with measurable precipitation

Results:

Graphed above.  Note that pan size and observation time of 24 hours essentially cancels unites such that grams water evaporation is almost identical to g / m2 / h

Future Plans:

1. Continue observations
2.  Add morning dew point, ambient temperature, and presence / absence of ice

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