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Light can make water evaporate without heat

news.mit.edu

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Re: Light can make water evaporate without heat

#9
post #2

They give current solar desalination efficiency as 1.5 kilos of water per square meter. Shouldn't there be a time component?

Wouldn't that be rate rather than efficiency?

So maybe it would be better stated as 1.5 kilos per x joules of sunlight (or per area per day average? At the equator?) but as stated I can't make sense of it.

Re: Light can make water evaporate without heat

#10
post #4

Why is it surprising? Light can transfer momentum into the water, which is was matters for the process of evaporation...?

Isn't 'transfer momentum' just a round about way of saying "heat up."

I think the interesting aspect here is that the evaporation is greater than what can be explained by heat alone.

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