What heats faster, dry or humid?

QiQuesti | 05:53 Thu 14th Feb 2008 | Science

3 Answers

Does a humid room heat up faster than a dry room? Will a humidifier help heat a room faster than a dry, non-humid room?

Ball hitting wall

changing history

Answers

1 to 3 of 3

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by QiQuesti. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.

wildwood

No, dry air heats up much easier.

Running a dehumidifier at a sensible level will help to make your home healthier and easier to warm up.

heathfield

Think how long it takes to bring water in a kettle to 100 degrees C, when it boils.

Now imagine how long it would take to bring the air in an empty kettle to that temperature. A fraction of the time!

Roughly speaking, the same sort of thing is happening when you have high humidity in your room - a lot of extra energy is needed to heat that water vapour.

mibn2cweus

About the same. Moisture displaces other on average heavier elements in the air. As a result humid air is less dense than dry air.

The Engineering ToolBox

1 to 3 of 3

Do you know the answer?