best material for condensation?

[alan2here]

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

[swansont]

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.

[alan2here]

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

[DrRocket]

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 ?

[alan2here]

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

Edited December 28, 2011 by alan2here