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Old cars often have deteriorating interiors(not my Honda) and I got to thinking why. Obviously the sun is a big culprit, the sun will fade dashes, make leather crack, plastic bubble, etc.

Why does this happen? Because all the moisture has been evaporated off the surface, it has essentially been dehydrated.

So, how do we keep things hydrated? With hydration of course, which then begs the question, how much hydration? Too much and your glass gets foggy on the inside and you start getting nasty musky/moldy smells, too little and the interior starts to degrade.

I mean if you put a small dixie cup in a car, and fill it 1/4 way, and leave the car parked in the sun, some of that water will evaporate to steam increasing the humidity in the cabin. Now humidity in the air does have the benefit of limiting radiative heating from the sun, and it also has the benefit of saturating interior parts limiting sun based dehydration. But there's the problem of smell and mustiness that comes from swamp weather.

Old cars often have deteriorating interiors(not my Honda) and I got to thinking why. Obviously the sun is a big culprit, the sun will fade dashes, make leather crack, plastic bubble, etc. Why does this happen? Because all the moisture has been evaporated off the surface, it has essentially been dehydrated. So, how do we keep things hydrated? With hydration of course, which then begs the question, how much hydration? Too much and your glass gets foggy on the inside and you start getting nasty musky/moldy smells, too little and the interior starts to degrade. I mean if you put a small dixie cup in a car, and fill it 1/4 way, and leave the car parked in the sun, some of that water will evaporate to steam increasing the humidity in the cabin. Now humidity in the air does have the benefit of limiting radiative heating from the sun, and it also has the benefit of saturating interior parts limiting sun based dehydration. But there's the problem of smell and mustiness that comes from swamp weather.

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[–] • 0 pt

Steam is a specific kind of vapor that is only produced through boiling. Period, there is no other way to get Steam, unless you know something physics does not.

https://tuttnauer.com/blog/autoclave-sterilization/basic-concepts-of-steam

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

Water boils all the time, it is just a slow process. Bulk water boiling does take a lot of energy, but a few billion water molecules is nothing. Water is held together by hydrogen bonds, UV light breaks hydrogen bonds. Broken H2 bond means free hydrogen atoms which then re bond with oxygen atoms in the air. Creating water vapor.

The sun emits UV light, how do you think we get all that water vapor/steam in the air?

[–] • 0 pt

We're not talking about water vapor, we're talking about Steam.

Steam is a specific kind of vapor that is only produced through boiling. Period, there is no other way to get Steam, unless you know something physics does not.

https://tuttnauer.com/blog/autoclave-sterilization/basic-concepts-of-steam

[–] • 0 pt

Steam is the gas phase of water! Jesus christ that is the basic definition of steam! Water vapor equals steam they are the same thing.