Monday 24 November 2014

Chilling with Ueli Steck

We went to hear the amazing Ueli Steck at Kendal Mountain Festival. If you've not come across him, watch this: http://www.wimp.com/eigerrecord/ He spends a lot of time in very cold places so as a tribute I took this photograph of my chilled fizzy beverage in the bar. Notice the condensation forming above the liquid level. That's water vapour in the air condensing back into liquid water. It made me think about the process in more detail. I'm thinking that the reduced temperatures slows the water molecules in the vapour so that the weaker electrostatic forces that keep water molecules together in a liquid. I'm thinking Van der Waals forces but a quick glance at the Internet suggests that it might be more complicated than that. A simple thing and I don't really know it!