HUMIDITY

The weather geeks on the tele always give us the current relative humidity. Most of them couldn't explain it to you if their life depended on it. It is a concept used to describe the amount of water vapor in the air. The formula for attaining the figure is the ratio of the partial pressure of the water vapor in the mixture to the saturated vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Okay, forget that. I lost you already. Get this. As the temperature rises, the saturated vapor pressure of water increases. So, when it gets warmer there can be more water vapor floating around. When it gets colder, there will be less. This in itself is not a big problem. This is. In the Winter, while there is less water in the air, the temperature in our homes is still moderate to warm. To be comfortable and healthy, you need to add water vapor to the air in your house in the Winter. In terms of weight, the water in the air we breath goes from about 3% in the Summer to about .5% in the Winter. Temperature extremes could take those numbers to 6% and .07%. These variances cause a lot of stress on your respiratory system. Do what you need to do to keep the relative humidity in your home over 40% this Winter.