Seeing your breath...

2cvbloke

2cvbloke

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No satellite stuff for the moment (aside from a 43cm minidish that was on the house already), Samsung SyncMaster T27B550 Smart TV & Monitor, and a few computers...
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Near Pontop Pike, Co. Durham
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!!! :eek:
 
It has nothing to do with cold :)

It is mearly a matter of humidity
 
dig deep said:
It has nothing to do with cold :)

It is mearly a matter of humidity
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Eh? :confused:
 
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.
 
the_happy_traveller said:
Mind you, my red van is almost pure white, so I'm not too confident with the thermometer.
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And I am not too confident with the logic here either red van, pure white, thermometer?:-DOH! you lost me!
 
I might be wrong but i thought it was when temp was below your own body temperature:confused:37 degrees maybe!
 
In the cold light of day it all makes sense :confused:

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:-rofl2
 
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.:mad:
 
the_happy_traveller said:
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.:mad:
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Nothing to apologise for m8 I think I was probably having a senior moment which did not help :-DOH! I suppose the couple of Foster tops did not help either:)
 
It has to be a temperature differential, enough to condense the moisture in the breath, forming a mist.
 
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.
 
Arctic Survival temperature assessment says that breath can be seen below 4 degrees C. That's what I was taught anyway.
 
:eek: 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!:)



the_happy_traveller said:
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.:mad:
Click to expand...
 
I am sure that if you had a lot of garlic your breath becomes so stinky it can be seen even at higher temperatures.
 
Speaking of garlic, I'm hungry.... :D
 
Try seeing smells. Like after you've been to the lav after a curry and chips. You could cut it with a knife. :D
 
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.
 
Saturlight said:
Try seeing smells. Like after you've been to the lav after a curry and chips. You could cut it with a knife. :D
Click to expand...

Lovely... :-rofl2

koansrc said:
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.
Click to expand...

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... :)
 
Analoguesat said:
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.
Click to expand...


Like I said, short as usual :-thumbup
 
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