Off topic- Humidity vs. Air Density

[Unimog Bob]

I told a couple guys at EB today that I would post this.
In a nutshell, humid air is less dense.

Humidity and air density

Most people who haven't studied physics or chemistry find it hard to believe that humid air is lighter, or less dense, than dry air. How can the air become lighter if we add water vapor to it?
Scientists have known this for a long time. The first was Isaac Newton, who stated that humid air is less dense than dry air in 1717 in his book, Optics. But, other scientists didn't generally understand this until later in that century.
To see why humid air is less dense than dry air, we need to turn to one of the laws of nature the Italian physicist Amadeo Avogadro discovered in the early 1800s. In simple terms, he found that a fixed volume of gas, say one cubic meter, at the same temperature and pressure, would always have the same number of molecules no matter what gas is in the container. Most beginning chemistry books explain how this works.
Imagine a cubic foot of perfectly dry air. It contains about 78% nitrogen molecules, which each have a molecular weight of 28 (2 atoms with atomic weight 14) . Another 21% of the air is oxygen, with each molecule having a molecular weight of 32 (2 stoms with atomic weight 16). The final one percent is a mixture of other gases, which we won't worry about.
Molecules are free to move in and out of our cubic foot of air. What Avogadro discovered leads us to conclude that if we added water vapor molecules to our cubic foot of air, some of the nitrogen and oxygen molecules would leave — remember, the total number of molecules in our cubic foot of air stays the same.
The water molecules, which replace nitrogen or oxygen, have a molecular weight of 18. (One oxygen atom with atomic weight of 16, and two hudrogen atoms each with atomic weight of 1). This is lighter than both nitrogen and oxygen. In other words, replacing nitrogen and oxygen with water vapor decreases the weight of the air in the cubic foot; that is, it's density decreases.
Wait a minute, you might say, "I know water's heavier than air." True, liquid water is heavier, or more dense, than air. But, the water that makes the air humid isn't liquid. It's water vapor, which is a gas that is lighter than nitrogen or oxygen. (Related: Understanding water in the atmosphere).
Compared to the differences made by temperature and air pressure, humidity has a small effect on the air's density. But, humid air is lighter than dry air at the same temperature and pressure.

[sparkyman]

The colder air is more dense. 15 knots in winter, is way better than 15 in summer. Great time @ East Beach today. With Paul, Bill, Alex an associated crew...Shaka Khan...Go Saints Yes, I will take fries with that, better yet Super Size It

[Unimog Bob]

Also talking about how humidity affected how far a baseball could be hit.

If there were no air resistance (that is, if a ball didn't have to make its way through the air on its way out of the park), the ball would travel nearly twice as far. Air resistance depends on humidity, temperature, and altitude: To make a ball go farther, you want high humidity, high temperature, and high altitude.

from http://www.exploratorium.edu/basebal...icslugger.html

[Unimog Bob]

Yeah, colder air is more dense.
There was a ton of confusion concerning humidity vs. density though (cuz it's counter-intuitive) - so I told a bunch of guys I would post this stuff - cuz frankly no one believed me.

Well now that you put it that way it makes since. Vapor in a gas form not in the liquid form is the key.

[Unimog Bob]

Yep, otherwise it'd just be added to the bay.
I just cut and paste that article.

It's very counter-intuitive, but I guess Nitrogen is much heavier than H20 vapor and H20 vapor displaces it with rising humidity, causing the air to get less dense (weigh less per unit volume). Sort of like substituting feathers for gold in a fixed volume.

Nothing else to do whilst I take these idiot's money online (well, I could be watching porn... LMAO) but prolly better to learn sumtin.
Man.. it's really raining big time now.

Not being a science savy person I would never have guessed that for sure. Ya, I am surfing the net and watching the playoffs, I get off work at midnight. I'll be ready to go around noon Sunday.

[Unimog Bob]

I just thought it was sort of interesting. (not really important, that's for sure).

I think humidity plays only a very minor role in determining density compared to temperature, altitude and other factors. Still sort of interesting though.

BTW>>> IT'S BLOWING!!!! and the forecast looks good.
Today would be a great DW day. (at least early)
Then maybe hit TI for that kite festival.

[Gator Gris]

So, as kite surfers, do we want humid light air or heavy dry air?

[BigR]

So, as kite surfers, do we want humid light air or heavy dry air?

heavy dry air will give you more power for the same windspeed and give you bigger jumps!