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Steam at the sub-atomic level?


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How does radiation help in the production of steam (from water)

 

I'm not sure what you mean by radiation; but I assume that, whatever it is, it heats the water and converts it to steam.

 

what are the formula/s involved to find out let's say 1 gram of water into steam?

 

I suppose the main one is the heat required to convert 1g of water to steam, which is about 2 kJ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_vaporization

 

You might also need to calculate the energy needed to raise the water to boiling point, which is about 4 J per degree (per gram).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_capacity

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I am not sure what the exact question is here.

 

If you want to make steam from liquid water, you need to heat it. At a sub molecular (i.e. atomic) sub-atomic level, vibrations of the atoms relative to each other increases. Radiation (for example infrared radiation) can increase this vibration, and that means the water get hotter, or will eventually evaporate and form steam.

 

[edit] I fixed a mistake in my own post.

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I'm not sure what you mean by radiation

 

I suppose OP simply means radiation that travels at c in vacuum, which is EM radiation. Why are you unsure about his statement? Do you imply that they are other types of radiation? What are they?

 

In Malaysia, we, secondary students study 3 types of heat transfer-conduction,convection and radiation. Teacher simply teaches us radiation and its properties, of course, excluding quantum properties since this is classical physics, but not explaining types of radiation. Do you mean the radiations in different wavelength/frequency in the EM spectrum? I once posted a question: are they any other ways of heat transfer apart from the 3 listed above in speculations. An answer was advection-heat transfer by bulk motion of liquid, iirc.

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/83692-heat-transmission-apart-from-conduction-convection-and-radiation/?hl=advection#entry810529

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Do you imply that they are other types of radiation? What are they?

 

Alpha and beta radiation. And, in our industry, cosmic rays and neutrons are also important. But I'm not sure any of these will have a significant heating effect in water. So I agree, electromagnetic radiation - particularly infra-red - is most relevant.

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