Effect of ambient water vapour on evaporation of volatile droplets

Abstract

We previously found residual water after the complete evaporation of volatile droplets such as organic solvents, which was considered to be condensed from ambient onto the droplet interface. Since evaporation of these liquids into moist environments is ubiquitous, the understanding of the influence of surrounding moisture on evaporation process is necessary. In this work, we measure the amount of condensed water at different stages of ethanol droplet evaporation in controlled environments by means of gas chromatography. Preliminary experiments show an increase in the amount of condensed water as relative humidity rises. We also propose an enhancement of ethanol evaporation probably due to the heat of condensation.