Different types of condensation

When reading about condensation the different types of condensation are not described well. The same word for different phenomenon’s is used and for one condensation phenomenon there is no word in English, neither in Dutch. But my old grandfather used a word for it in his dialect. It means that the old agricultural people knew the difference between the various phenomenon’s better than we do. My grandfather called this condensation phenomenon ‘giving out’.

What is condensation?

Condensation is a phenomenon that occurs when shrinking air shrinks so much that it is not able anymore to capture the humidity. The water molecules are pressed out of the intermolecular spaces between the air molecules. We see vapor (giving out-dew-mist-clouds) or water (rain) as a result. The moment that the water molecules are pressed out of the air molecules is called ‘dew point’.

Various types of condensation

The air shrinks once the temperature of it reduces and that produces water. Mostly we see the same result - water on leaves - but the cause of it is very different:

Please view the images for more explanation

1. Giving out > the air itself has not reached its dew-point and no floating dew is visible. Only air that touches a cold surface shrinks and reaches its dew point, leaving water behind. All plants in deserts live and survive using this process and in moderate climates plants survive periods of draught by using the 'giving out' phenomenon. The Groasis waterboxx copies this process.
2. Dew > only the lowest part of the air above the soil, in the lowest point of a valley or in a canal reaches the dew point. In general we see beautiful horizontal layers of dew.
3. A high humidity > the whole air is slightly saturated, but the visibility is still OK.
4. Mist > the whole air is heavily saturated with water. The visibility is bad.
5. Clouds around mountain tops > warm air rising against the slope gets colder reaching its dew point showing clouds.
6. Clouds > close to Earth it's warm enough to prevent a dew point but higher in the air it's cold and clouds develop.
7. 3 types of precipitation:
   1. The floating water molecules bind to the others caused by cohesion and become too heavy to float. They fall and we call this phenomenon ‘rain’.
   2. The floating water molecules bind to the others caused by cohesion, they freeze to balls of irregular lumps of ice and become too heavy to float. They fall and we call this phenomenon ‘hail’.
   3. The floating water molecules bind to the others caused by cohesion and become crystalline water ice too heavy to float. They fall and we call this phenomenon ‘snow’.