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Difference between Humidity and Relative Humidity
Meaning of humidity and difference between humidity and relative humidity, relative humidity measurement methods and the units.
Humidity and relative humidity both measures the amount of water present in the
air but both of these have difference in the method of measurement.
Humidity in air depends upon the atmosphere of the area and the season
of the year. In the dry areas as desert, humidity remains very low while
in area near ocean and rainforests it remains very high. It also
remains higher in rainy season than the summer. Air can hold a limited
amount of moisture or water vapour. When moisture increases above its
limit, it turns into the droplets those are known as fog.
Humidity is the amount of
moisture or water present in the air in the form of water vapours. It is measured in grams of water in letter of
air (mass/volume). It is also known as absolute humidity.
Relative humidity is the
percentage of the moisture against the highest possible level of moisture in the
air at specific temperature. Relative humidity is measured higher on lower temperature
because cold air holds more water vapours than the warm air. Relative humidity
is measured by the hygrometer and also known as %RH.
Example: If air of any area has half of the water vapours that it can
carry then its relative humidity would be 50%. 100% is the highest and 0% is the
lowest value of relative humidity that can be found in any area.
Principle of Hygrometer and Its Use
Hygrometers are essential device for pharmaceuticals because
moisture in environment causes great effect on pharmaceutical products during
manufacturing. Relative humidity of atmosphere is measured by the hygrometer in
percentage.
Hygrometer contains two thermometers one is called dry bulb
and second as wet bulb. According to their names dry bulb remains dry in the
air and wet bulb is surrounded by a cotton wick that is dipped in the water. Wet
bulb plays main role in the measurement of the humidity.
Hygrometer works on the phenomenon called evaporative
cooling. When water evaporates from any surface, it becomes cool because water molecules
take heat energy from the surface during the evaporation. Due to this cooling
effect wet bulb always shows low temperature than the dry bulb. You can understand
this with the conditions when you are felling very hot and you take bath with
water. Water evaporates from our body taking some heat and you feel cool for
some time.
Evaporation of water from the surface of wet bulb is inversely
proportional to the humidity in the atmosphere. In dry atmosphere when humidity
is low, the evaporation of water will high resulting the more decrease in wet
blub temperature. But when atmosphere is humid having higher humidity, the evaporation
of water from wet bulb remains low resulting the less decrease in the wet bulb
temperature. At 100 percent humidity the temperature of dry and wet bulb will
be same due to no water evaporation from the wet bulb hence no cooling effect
occurs.
Relative humidity is determined by the difference of the
temperatures of dry bulb thermometer and wet bulb thermometer. Always water is
used in hygrometers. When we use alcohol in wet bulb, temperature drops very
rapidly and gives more difference between dry and wet bulbs because water
evaporates more rapidly from the wet bulb’s surface than water giving more
cooling effect. But when we use oil in wet bulb having no evaporation, the
temperature of both bulbs remain same due to no cooling effect.
Hygrometers are always used in pharmaceutical manufacturing because a
lot of pharmaceutical ingredients are hygroscopic and high humidity may
cause problems in formulation of those compounds. In capsule manufacturing facilities is it necessary to maintain the humidity below 40% due to hygroscopic nature of gelatin. Hard gelatin capsules and other hygroscopic ingredients are stored at low humidity storage conditions.
Relative humidity is determined using the following table.
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