Wiki Sail by GRF

Originally posted by fab100 Now I want to know what happens if someone loads the air with bubbles - cos, we are told, they make stuff lighter

Helium bubbles?

Unfortunatley the New Scientist blurb misses a couple of points.
1) air with suspended droplets of water will be more dense, e.g. fog or cloud.
2) what we call 'damp air' generally means air with a high relative humidity.
100% relative humidity is a water vapour content which increases rapidly with temperature.
'Dry' air at say 20degC and 50% humidity actually contains (roughly)the same amount of water as 'wet' air at 10degC and 100% relative humidity.

I believe the perceived variation in 'wind force' for the same wind speed is largely about turbulence.

I don't care what the google scientologists reel out here.

Air with moisture in it feels heavier than air without moisture in it

Cold Air feels heavier than warm air.

Cold Air with moisture in it feels heavier than Cold Air without moisture even more so if it is actually raining.

Warm Air with moisture in if feels heavier than warm air without moisture in it.

Facts, pure anecdotal facts derived from holding sails in ones bare hands in those circumstances.

Resulting in sail size choice accordingly. (Bigger sails in warm less moist air, smaller sails in cold.

What you lot feel may of course, like the way you speak, be different because it is conducted by and large through your arse..

Originally posted by Noah Originally posted by transient Originally posted by iGRF nowhere near as much moisture in it, so any given windspeed felt less. I may be missing an "in" joke here, if I am just ignore me. Molecules are measured in moles or more precisely millimoles. Water molecules weigh less than oxygen or nitrogen molecules. A given volume of air can only contain so many molecules. If air molecules are replaced by water molecules = moist air less dense than dry air. http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/260/ I once had a race scuppered by a fish. OK, for the benefit of a bear with very little brain, how the hell can one water molecule (H2O, or - worse - H5O2 (which is wot I seem to remember a science teacher telling me many, many aeons ago)) weigh LESS than one Oxygen molecule (O2)? My head hurts!

Edited by transient - 18 Apr 13 at 10:13am

Originally posted by iGRF I don't care what the google scientologists reel out here. Air with moisture in it feels heavier than air without moisture in it Cold Air feels heavier than warm air. Cold Air with moisture in it feels heavier than Cold Air without moisture even more so if it is actually raining. Warm Air with moisture in if feels heavier than warm air without moisture in it. Facts, pure anecdotal facts derived from holding sails in ones bare hands in those circumstances. Resulting in sail size choice accordingly. (Bigger sails in warm less moist air, smaller sails in cold. What you lot feel may of course, like the way you speak, be different because it is conducted by and large through your arse..