Hello Everyone,
I was watching Apollo 13 again on TV tonight. I love the movie, but one thing I don’t understand is how the condensation was able to build up in the command module when the power was down. Where did all the water come from?
It came from water vapor in the air, which condensed as the air cooled.
People breath out water vapor with every breath and even when you don’t see beads of sweat we’re constantly perspiring and water is evaporating off our skin.
Warm air holds more moisture than cool air. Once the command module was shut down the air cooled and the moisture had to go somewhere, so it collected on the control panels, much like frost gathers on a window in the winter.
When the CM started warming up the frost on the interior panels turned to liquid, and eventually would have been back in the air as water vapour.
If you lived in a cold climate, this would be second nature.
Exactly - even if it’s not “cold enough to see your breath” the same amount of water comes out with our breath. It will condense where it’s cool. An adult male probably goes through about three liters of water every day, nowhere near as much as comes out as number one or in number two - the rest comes out as breath and sweat and evaporates.