On Tue, 14 Jun 2005, Frederick Sparber wrote: > According to this ion counter sales blurb: > > http://www.trifield.com/air_ions.htm > > Evaporating > water will produce - ions in the air and as a consequence leave + > charges behind in the water that hasn't yet evaporated.
As I understand it, this is wrong. *SPRAYED* water and water with bursting bubbles does produce negative ions. It takes some energy to pull ions away from the water surface, and simple evaporation doesn't give enough of a KE boost to non-neutral vapor molecules. Instead they fall back immediately because of induced opposite charge. I bought a book on eBay about this: electrostatic spraying of liquids, A. Bailey > Also, your breath contains about > 20,000 to 50,000 - ions/cm3 from the evaporating water, but you must be > grounded to exhale a concentration this high. Now THAT is an interesting claim! I've been keeping an eye out for any evidence that human beings can breathe out charged air. Does anyone on vortex have an ion meter? WHat happens when you breath on the probe? Maybe the breath from some of us is neutral, others charged. (When I blow on the electrode of the http://amasci.com/chargdet/ electrometer, it detects no trace of unbalanced charge in the air. But maybe I need a steel wool collector electrode.) Also see: Electric People: human lungs as VandeGraaff generators http://amasci.com/emotor/zapped.html#ehum > If you are insulated from > ground, you will become more positively charged with each exhalation (by > about five volts) because your breath is removing negative charge. > Eventually, you will become sufficiently positive (after exhaling about > 20 times), that the negative ions will immediately return to you. This > is the same effect that occurs in building cooling systems that use an > evaporating water tower. I think these cooling towers use water sprayers or foggers (a known source of negative charged droplets.) > If not properly grounded, the water pump and > vents will become very positive. (If the inside vents are isolated from > the evaporating water via a heat exchanger, the vents may become very > positive and produce a large number of + ions. This can be corrected > simply by grounding the vent)." > > Frederick (((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website billb at amasci com http://amasci.com EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair Seattle, WA 206-789-0775 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
