CU-Boulder ATOC 1070 - Lab3 (3 pages)

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ATOC 1070 Lab 3 Moisture in the Atmosphere Sarah Rose Group members Zach H Kitty D Steven G Section 8 Question 1 a The water vapor capacity is 25 grams per k of air and the actual amount of water vapor is 5 grams per kilogram To find the relative humidity we use the formula RH Actual vapor pressure saturation vapor x 100 pressure so RH 5 25 x100 0 2 b The mixing ratio is 10 grams per kg of air and the saturation mixing ratio at 25 deg C is 20 grams per kg To find the relative humidity we use the formula RH mixing ratio saturation mixing ratio x 100 so 10 20 x 100 50 c The mixing ratio is 10 grams per kg of air and the saturation vapor mixing ratio at 5 deg C is 10 grams per kg To find the relative humidity we use the formula RH mixing ratio saturation mixing ratio x 100 so 10 10 x 100 100 The relative humidity in c is higher then the calculated RH in b because the temperature in b is greater The greater the temperature the bigger the capacity there is in the atmosphere for water vapor So even though both b and c have the same amount of water 10 grams per kg of air the capacity in c is much greater it would take more vapor to make it saturated than in b because in b the temperature is lower Two ways to change relative humidity would be to either raise or lower the air temperature When you raise the temperature and keep the water amount the same RH goes down when you lower the temperature and keep the water amount constant the RH goes up The second way to change the relative humidity would be to change the actual amount of water in the air If you stay at a constant temperature and add more water into the air then the RH goes up Question 2 Warm air can contain more moisture because the higher the temperature of the atmosphere the more energy there is The more energy in the atmosphere there is more energy to evaporate water So higher temps allow for more evaporation You can have an atmosphere composed of 78 N 21 O and 1 other gases because that is what a dry atmosphere