Seeing your breath...

***2cvbloke*** · 16-11-2007

Ok, whilst doing my washing in my twintub, I was wondering how cold it has to be before your breath becomes visible, mainly because my Kitchen is so effing cold now I could actually see my breath!!!

**dig deep** · 16-11-2007

It has nothing to do with cold

It is mearly a matter of humidity

***2cvbloke*** · 16-11-2007

Originally Posted by dig deep

It has nothing to do with cold

It is mearly a matter of humidity

Eh?

***the_happy_traveller*** · 16-11-2007

Just been out with the dog and my outside thermometer is reading 3c.
You can definitely see your breath

.

Mind you, my red van is almost pure white, so I'm not too confident with the thermometer.

**Topper** · 17-11-2007

Originally Posted by the_happy_traveller

Mind you, my red van is almost pure white, so I'm not too confident with the thermometer.

And I am not too confident with the logic here either red van, pure white, thermometer?

you lost me!

**colinp** · 17-11-2007

I might be wrong but i thought it was when temp was below your own body temperature

37 degrees maybe!

**Topper** · 17-11-2007

In the cold light of day it all makes sense

What you were saying was that the thermometer was reading 3 deg, you have a red van but it had turned white with the frost hence you were not confident that the thermometer was reading correctly.
All I can say is that you have to also know what the wind chill factor is as this can take the actual temperature down a few more degrees.
Exactly what all this has to do with seeing one's breath I have no idea

***the_happy_traveller*** · 17-11-2007

Sorry about that topper.

Just my aimless ramblings. Probably due to having to leave my nice warm house so the dog can spend half an hour sniffing.

**Topper** · 17-11-2007

Originally Posted by the_happy_traveller

Sorry about that topper.

Just my aimless ramblings. Probably due to having to leave my nice warm house so the dog can spend half an hour sniffing.

Nothing to apologise for m8 I think I was probably having a senior moment which did not help

I suppose the couple of Foster tops did not help either

**rolfw** · 17-11-2007

It has to be a temperature differential, enough to condense the moisture in the breath, forming a mist.

**Analoguesat** · 17-11-2007

From ask yahoo:

There is no fixed air temperature for frosty breath. As meteorologist Tom Skilling explains, two factors determine whether we can see our breath in cold weather: temperature and humidity.
Exhaled air has relatively high amounts of moisture from our lungs. When this warm, moist air is chilled, the moisture condenses. The exhaled air is chilled below its saturation temperature, or dew point.

For big dramatic clouds of frosty breath, it helps to have humid air. Why? This stops the condensation cloud from evaporating too quickly. The water droplets will last longer in moist air, because the air is already fairly saturated.

Here's a nifty piece of frosty breath movie trivia, courtesy of IMDb. The outdoor shots in "Dog Day Afternoon" were filmed during the winter, but the story was supposed to take place during the summer. So to make their breath less visible, the actors held ice in their mouths before filming.

**Low Profile** · 17-11-2007

Arctic Survival temperature assessment says that breath can be seen below 4 degrees C. That's what I was taught anyway.

**TJExcalibur** · 17-11-2007

My old beardie takes an hour to walk half a mile and its so boring and more so tomorrow when its peeing down at 8am. WALKIES!

Originally Posted by the_happy_traveller

Sorry about that topper.

Just my aimless ramblings. Probably due to having to leave my nice warm house so the dog can spend half an hour sniffing.

**T_G** · 18-11-2007

I am sure that if you had a lot of garlic your breath becomes so stinky it can be seen even at higher temperatures.

***2cvbloke*** · 18-11-2007

Speaking of garlic, I'm hungry....

***Saturlight*** · 14-12-2007

Try seeing smells. Like after you've been to the lav after a curry and chips. You could cut it with a knife.

**koansrc** · 14-12-2007

This thread brings to mind the scene about polution and global warming and how much more "aware" everyone would be if "polution" was visible. In the film car emitions and factory emitions where actually visible (real or fake I don't know) but it was impressive or depressing depending on your point of view.

***2cvbloke*** · 14-12-2007

Originally Posted by Saturlight

Try seeing smells. Like after you've been to the lav after a curry and chips. You could cut it with a knife.

Lovely...

Originally Posted by koansrc

This thread brings to mind the scene about polution and global warming and how much more "aware" everyone would be if "polution" was visible. In the film car emitions and factory emitions where actually visible (real or fake I don't know) but it was impressive or depressing depending on your point of view.

There was a documentary on a few years back about "Global Dimming" because of particles of pollution in the air, so technically, we can see the pollution, but as we're used to seeing it so spread out that we claim not to see it, but it is there...

**dig deep** · 14-12-2007

Originally Posted by Analoguesat

From ask yahoo:

There is no fixed air temperature for frosty breath. As meteorologist Tom Skilling explains, two factors determine whether we can see our breath in cold weather: temperature and humidity.
Exhaled air has relatively high amounts of moisture from our lungs. When this warm, moist air is chilled, the moisture condenses. The exhaled air is chilled below its saturation temperature, or dew point.

For big dramatic clouds of frosty breath, it helps to have humid air. Why? This stops the condensation cloud from evaporating too quickly. The water droplets will last longer in moist air, because the air is already fairly saturated.

Here's a nifty piece of frosty breath movie trivia, courtesy of IMDb. The outdoor shots in "Dog Day Afternoon" were filmed during the winter, but the story was supposed to take place during the summer. So to make their breath less visible, the actors held ice in their mouths before filming.

Like I said, short as usual

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Seeing your breath... For those of you with an appetite for the scientific and technical, whether it be lofty theory or more practical discussion.

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