Is it glass? Or the outside of a glass bubble with gas other than air on the inside, or is it another material?

Is it glass? Or the outside of a glass bubble with gas other than air on the inside, or is it another material?

 

Water condenses because it tends to lose energy when it strikes a cooler surface. For a passive system you want a material with a large specific heat capacity, so its temperature does not rise much when a water molecule strikes it and sticks. Glass has a pretty high heat capacity for a solid; it's comparable to other building materials.

 

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

 

Polyethylene has a larger value (it's on the list before the building materials).

 

A surface with another enclosed gas would work, but the total thermal mass would be much smaller because the density of the gas is so low.

 

Maintaining a low temperature is key, so if you actively cool the condensation material, it's more important to have a high thermal conductivity.

So more water, zinc or uranuim is best, perhaps practically further down is tin, presumably like tins, which aren't that impressive.

Is it glass? Or the outside of a glass bubble with gas other than air on the inside, or is it another material?

 

It is not just a question of material, but also largely of design.

 

What are you trying to do ?

Just wodering about it reguarding collecting water from the air passively.

Edited December 28, 201113 yr by alan2here