Talk:Humidity

Simplify Relative Humidity?

At the moment, the article says this about relative humidity, which is ambiguous - "how much water vapour the air could potentially contain at a given temperature". The words 'could potentially contain' is not clear in its meaning. For example - does it actually mean maximum amount of water vapour, or some average amount of water vapour, or a minimum amount? Currently, just writing 'potentially' can mean anything. KorgBoy (talk) 23:07, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

@KorgBoy: I'm not so sure it's an issue. I have a 20 litre bucket. How much water could that bucket potentially contain? That said, if you can come up with clearer wording, have at it! Edit away, or make a suggestion. Worst that can happen if you choose to edit in good faith is that it will get reverted. WP:BRD etc. Chumpih ^t 15:06, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

@Chumpih: - for clarity, the wording could be 'What is the maximum amount of water that the bucket could potentially contain?'. When we just say 'how much water could the bucket potentially contain?', then the word 'potentially' could be considered to mean 'possibly', so that anybody could say that the bucket could 'possibly' (ie. potentially) contain 1 millitre, or even 1 litre, or 15.74 litre, or any amount in the range zero to twenty litre. KorgBoy (talk) 07:38, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

@KorgBoy I agree it's not adequately worded. For a start, there's such a thing as supersaturation, where the air contains more water vapour than "ought" to be possible but the water doesn't condense out because there's nothing for it to condense on. So the RH can potentially be over 100% . . . !

As I understand it, 100% RH is the point above which the mixture can't be in equilibrium and water will condense out, but I'm not sure of the precise definition. Musiconeologist (talk) 03:01, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

Absolute Humidity has Incorrect Units

• What I think should be changed: Under the Absolute Humidity section, in the penultimate sentence, the commonly used units in SI are actually g/m³ and kg/m³, NOT g/kg and kg/kg. Also, the last sentence was perhaps meant to say that any units of mass and volume can be used (lbs/ft³ are often used in the US).
• Why it should be changed: Measurements for absolute humidity are recorded in units mass per unit volume.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button): The equation provided in the Absolute Humidity section itself gives absolute humidity as a ratio of mass of water vapor in air to the volume of air at a given temperature. You can also consult the Engineering ToolBox website, namely this page: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/amp/absolute-humidity-air-d_681.html

2600:6C51:4500:E67:143F:14B0:DA6F:1C53 (talk) 19:34, 10 September 2022 (UTC)

References

oz/cubic yard is madness

Why does the table of absolute humidity values a useless extra set of values in oz/cu. yd? The table is overfull with these useless extra numbers included. If there's some tiny subset of people who actually use these they'll be peculiar engineers or similar from the USA, a staggering minority of possible users of this page. Take these out for clarity. Ecwiebe (talk) 22:17, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

delete the numbers in brackets, but perhaps keep the Farenheit temperatures. The os/cubic yard doesn't help with clarity. Even if there were arguments to retain, it may make more sense to have them in a separate table. Chumpih ^t 06:49, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

"Original research" tag

The "other important information" section has today been tagged with {{original research}}. On reading through the section, it seems to consist entirely of established, widely known, uncontroversial information. Yes it's lacking references, but it's hardly original research, just a collection of the standard explanations of familiar phenomena.

Now, I'm not a meteorologist or professional physicist, just someone with a science education and an electronics degree, so I might be missing something, but I can't see anything remotely controversial in those paragraphs. Surely they just need referencing to appropriate sources. Musiconeologist (talk) 17:57, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

From the documentation for the {{original research}} template: "This template should not be applied without explanation on the talk page, and should be removed if the original research is not readily apparent when no explanation is given." Since both of those apply, I've removed it. Musiconeologist (talk) 18:07, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

The OR template was re-added shortly after it was removed. I've removed it again as no explanation was given. I also agree, as someone with a bit of background in Earth and environmental science, that this is probably more of an issue with limited referencing than original research. However, if someone does notice OR in this article please feel free to share here. Viv Desjardin (talk) 23:41, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

Difficulty Breathing In High Humidity

Humidity#Human comfort Prior:

Some people experience difficulty breathing in humid environments. Some cases may possibly be related to respiratory conditions such as asthma, while others may be the product of anxiety. Affected people will often hyperventilate in response, causing sensations of numbness, faintness, and loss of concentration, among others.

Leftover passage under scrutiny:

Other cases may be the product of anxiety.^{[medical citation needed][dubious – discuss]} Affected people will often hyperventilate in response, causing sensations of numbness, faintness, and loss of concentration, among others.

1. Misdiagnosis is a serious concern. Misattribution the same, real anxiety, but also real missed asthma...
2. What if the dyspnea is real, but compensatory breathing is overshooting and giving the appearance of anxiety hyperventilation?
3. I think you would be insane to not get anxiety from the thing that makes you struggle for air
4. What are we even talking about, showers, high humidity indoor spaces, outdoor spaces, all of them? What kind of activity level?
5. Are there perhaps other conditions that predispose to breathing difficulty in high humidity?
   1. Cystic fibrosis (asthma)? Plausible enough that water getting added into the usually thin mucous layer could feel bad?
   2. Anything making tissue oxygenation harder (i.e. lung scarring, anemia), maybe the slight partial pressure drop is felt?
6. Maybe it is just warm and humid, and under strain it is just extra uncomfortable to breathe (harder)
   1. maybe there is an overheating component to this, where the lungs do not get to cool themselves as efficiently and that makes you feel bad somehow

Okay, a completely wild one: what if this happens mostly in places with poor ventilation, with a meaningfully elevated CO₂ partial pressure? This could easily explain inconsistencies in how much humidity some people tolerate. Karsenat (talk) 15:59, 8 June 2026 (UTC)