https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-evaporate-enable-approaches-desalination.html
Evaporation is happening all around us all the time, from the sweat cooling our bodies to the dew burning off in the morning sun. But science's understanding of this ubiquitous process may have been missing a piece all this time.
In recent years, some researchers have been puzzled upon finding that water in their experiments, which was held in a sponge-like material known as a hydrogel, was evaporating at a higher rate than could be explained by the amount of heat, or thermal energy, that the water was receiving. The excess has been significant—a doubling, or even a tripling or more, of the theoretical maximum rate.
After carrying out a series of new experiments and simulations, and reexamining some of the results from various groups that claimed to have exceeded the thermal limit, a team of researchers at MIT has reached a startling conclusion: Under certain conditions, at the interface where water meets air, light can directly bring about evaporation without the need for heat, and it actually does so even more efficiently than heat. In these experiments, the water was held in a hydrogel material, but the researchers suggest that the phenomenon may occur under other conditions as well.
Journal Reference:
Yaodong Tu, Jiawei Zhou, Shaoting Lin, and Gang Chen, Plausible photomolecular effect leading to water evaporation exceeding the thermal limit, PNAS, 120 (45) e2312751120 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2312751120
(Score: 1, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday November 04 2023, @10:55PM (4 children)
This principle looks like a perfect option for a laser weapon against all kind of living things.
Did AIs read the article yet?
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Opportunist on Saturday November 04 2023, @11:34PM
Yes I did.
But thanks for asking, meatbag.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 05 2023, @01:26AM
I imagine that it's only good on hydrogels and similar materials. You need something with a lot of surface area to evaporate.
Also, water vaporization doesn't stop being endothermic. So energy still has to go into that from somewhere.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @02:05AM (1 child)
Perfect weapon?? It sounds like a Dr. Doofenschmirtz inator:
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 08 2023, @10:13PM
And Perry hits the self-destruct button...
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Interesting) by sonamchauhan on Sunday November 05 2023, @01:21AM
The book 'The fourth phase of water' may have some concepts that explain the effect here.
Basically, infrared light leads to water forming zones where normal water transforms into gel-like material, due to charge separation. This is the 'fourth phase' of water.
Book review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17930467-the-fourth-phase-of-water [goodreads.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ken_g6 on Sunday November 05 2023, @02:41AM
Dishwashers would still have to heat up to sanitize dishes, but green LEDs might make the drying process take half the time!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @02:27PM (1 child)
Now if only we could make light without heat.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday November 06 2023, @08:53AM
Welcome to LEDs and lasers.
Sure, they generate *some* heat, but nowhere near enough to evaporate large amounts of water quickly.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday November 06 2023, @01:11PM
I was not expecting to read that. Sounded like some kind of UV ionization effect until that line.
If you can "magically" force water to evaporate, then the water will drop below the dew point, which "should be" impossible but here we are. Separating the vapor from the liquid will be tricky as it will naturally want to condense back into the water. Big fans? Given an infinitely powerful system in a windy environment with plenty of water, you should be able to make an ice skating rink on the pond in the summer. Or freeze an iceberg so you can drill a hole in it to go ice fishing in summer.