MIT-Forscher entdecken „photomolekularen Effekt“: Licht allein kann Wasser ohne Wärme verdampfen, ein bisher unbekanntes physikalisches Phänomen, das neue Technologien ermöglichen könnte
https://news.mit.edu/2024/how-light-can-vaporize-water-without-heat-0423
4 Kommentare
Submission statement:
From the article:
> “I think this work is very significant scientifically because it presents a new mechanism,” says University of Alberta Distinguished Professor Janet A.W. Elliott, who also was not associated with this work. “It may also turn out to be practically important for technology and our understanding of nature, because evaporation of water is ubiquitous and the effect appears to deliver significantly higher evaporation rates than the known thermal mechanism. … My overall impression is this work is outstanding. It appears to be carefully done with many precise experiments lending support for one another.”
This is more exciting than the article makes it sound at first: it’s actual new physics! Light alone can evaporate water; according to the article, it works best when light strikes the surface of the water at a 45 degree angle, and works better with green light, for reasons the researchers don’t yet understand.
What kinds of technology could result from this discovery? More efficient desalinization seems like the most obvious, but there are likely many more possibilities.
I legit thought this the case already. IDK why but I thought I had learned this was the case when I was young. Funny when you find out you’ve been „wrong“ your whole life in the same moment you find out you’ve actually been right.
Interesting. It’s well known to Nixie clock makers that light can help create a plasma in a neon bulb, perhaps the mechanism is related.
It’s very intuitive that light of the right energy and orientation could knock molecules loose and induce evaporation. That’s not new and the language of the article almost seems to make it sound like it is. But that’s my only criticism
It is novel that they’ve found a specific set of reproducible conditions which does it efficiently – imagine shining a special lamp on water and watching it evaporate much quicker than boiling it. Dryers wouldn’t rely on hot air and could just shine light at this particular frequency and polarization at clothes while tumbling. Can see a lot of good uses for this tech. Neat!