Water-vapour

Water Vapour. Investigations of the photolysis of water in the vacuum u.v. have been directed towards the establishment of the relative importance of processes (11)—(13). Time-resolved measuranents of H and O by resonance fluorescence  

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Trichloroethanoic acid, CCI3COOH. A crystalline solid which rapidly absorbs water vapour m.p. 58°C, b.p. 196-5" C. Manufactured by the action of chlorine on ethanoic acid at 160°C in the presence of red phosphorus, sulphur or iodine. It is decomposed into chloroform and carbon dioxide by boiling water. It is a much stronger acid than either the mono- or the dichloro-acids and has been used to extract alkaloids and ascorbic acid from plant and animal tissues. It is a precipitant for proteins and may be used to test for the presence of albumin in urine. The sodium salt is used as a selective weedkiller. 

CH20H-CH(0H)-CH,0H, C3HHO3. Normally obtained as a colourless, odourless, viscous liquid with a very sweet taste. M.p. 20 C, b.p. 182 C/20mm. It absorbs up to 50% of its weight of water vapour. It occurs (glycerides) in combination with various fatly acids in all animal and vegetable fats and oils. 

The absolute humidity is the mass of water vapour per unit mass of dry air. 

The percentage humidity is the ratio of the amount of water vapour present per unit mass of dry air to the amount the air could hold if... 

The relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of the water vapour in the air to the partial pressure of water vapour in the air when saturated at the same temperature. This ratio is usually expressed as a p>ercentage. 

CH OfiSj, H2C(S03H)2- a colourless, crystalline solid which readily absorbs water vapour decomposes on distillation. The potassium salt is prepared by heating methylene chloride with an aqueous solution of potassium sulphite under pressure at 150-I60" C. The free acid is obtained by decomposing the sparingly soluble barium salt with sulphuric acid. The aryl esters are very stable, but the alkyl esters decompose on heating to give ethers. Resembles malonic acid in some of its reactions. 

The strict definition of a phase is any homogeneous and physically distinct region that is separated from another such region by a distinct boundary . For example a glass of water with some ice in it contains one component (the water) exhibiting three phases liquid, solid, and gaseous (the water vapour). The most relevant phases in the oil industry are liquids (water and oil), gases (or vapours), and to a lesser extent, solids. 

To prepare gas for evacuation it is necessary to separate the gas and liquid phases and extract or inhibit any components in the gas which are likely to cause pipeline corrosion or blockage. Components which can cause difficulties are water vapour (corrosion, hydrates), heavy hydrocarbons (2-phase flow or wax deposition in pipelines), and contaminants such as carbon dioxide (corrosion) and hydrogen sulphide (corrosion, toxicity). In the case of associated gas, if there is no gas market, gas may have to be flared or re-injected. If significant volumes of associated gas are available it may be worthwhile to extract natural gas liquids (NGLs) before flaring or reinjection. Gas may also have to be treated for gas lifting or for use as a fuel. 

If produced gas contains water vapour it may have to be dried (dehydrated). Water condensation in the process facilities can lead to hydrate formation and may cause corrosion (pipelines are particularly vulnerable) in the presence of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. Hydrates are formed by physical bonding between water and the lighter components in natural gas. They can plug pipes and process equipment. Charts such as the one below are available to predict when hydrate formation may become a problem. 

Dehydration can be performed by a number of methods cooling, absorption and adsorption. Water removal by cooling is simply a condensation process at lower temperatures the gas can hold less water vapour. This method of dehydration is often used when gas has to be cooled to recover heavy hydrocarbons. Inhibitors such as glycol may have to be injected upstream of the chillers to prevent hydrate formation. 

Rather different circumstances are encountered when considering THz remote sensing of extraterrestrial sources. The major source of THz opacity in the Earth s atmosphere is water vapour, and from either high, dry mountain sites or from space there are windows in which the background becomes very small. Incoherent instruments which detect the faint emission from astronomical sources can therefore be considerably more sensitive than their laboratory... 

Nitrobenzene. Usually rather a troublesome solvent, as it is markedly hygroscopic and the freezing-point of the solvent itself tends to fall steadily moreover it is, like benzene, an associating solvent. For a modification of the above freezing-point apparatus, by which the determination may be made in the absence of water-vapour, the student should consult an advanced textbook of practical physical chemistry. 

Carrying out a combustion. The apparatus (Fig. 85, p. 469) will have been left with the bottle W connected to the beak of the combustion tube via the guard tube V and with all the taps shut, the combustion tube, which is dways allowed to cool down while connected to the oxygen source, will therefore be full of oxygen at slightly above atmospheric pressure, thus preventing any leaking in of carbon dioxide or water vapour from the air. 

The chief danger and main source of error in a combustion is that of moving the Bunsen forward a little too rapidly and so causing much of the substance to burn very rapidly, so that a flash-back occurs. This usually causes an explosion wave to travel back along the tube towards the purification train, some carbon dioxide and water vapour being carried with it. If these reach the packing of the purification train they will, of course, be absorbed there and the results of the estimation will necessarily be low. 

At this point the system has throe phases (CUSO4 CuS04,Hj0 HjO vapour) and the number of components is two (anhydrous salt water). Hence by the phase rule, F + F = C + 2, t.e., 3+F = 2 + 2, or F=l. The system is consequently univariant, in other words, only one variable, e.g., temperature, need be fixed to define the system completely the pressure of water vapour in equilibrium with CUSO4 and CuS04,Hj0 should be constant at constant temperature. 

We may now understand the nature of the change which occurs when an anhydrous salt, say copper sulphate, is shaken with a wet organic solvent, such as benzene, at about 25°. The water will first combine to form the monohydrate in accordance with equation (i), and, provided suflScient anhydrous copper sulphate is employed, the effective concentration of water in the solvent is reduced to a value equivalent to about 1 mm. of ordinary water vapour. The complete removal of water is impossible indeed, the equilibrium vapour pressures of the least hydrated tem may be taken as a rough measure of the relative efficiencies of such drying agents. If the water present is more than sufficient to convert the anhydrous copper sulphate into the monohydrate, then reaction (i) will be followed by reaction (ii), i.e., the trihydrate will be formed the water vapour then remaining will be equivalent to about 6 mm. of ordinary water vapour. Thus the monohydrate is far less effective than the anhydrous compound for the removal of water. 

Deliquescence and efflorescence. A substance is said to deliquesce (Latin to become liquid) when it forms a solution or liquid phase upon standing in the air. The essential condition is that the vapour pressure of the saturated solution of the highest hydrate at the ordinary temperature should be less than the partial pressure of the aqueous vapour in the atmosphere. Water will be absorbed by the substance, which gradually liquefies to a saturated solution water vapour will continue to be absorbed by the latter until an unsaturated solution, having the same vapour pressure as the partial pressure of water vapour in the air, is formed. In order that the vapour pressure of the saturated solution may be sufficiently low, the substance must be extremely soluble in water, and it is only such substances (e.g., calcium chloride, zinc chloride and potassium hydroxide) that deliquesce. 

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