Introduction
I do not want to mislead you into thinking this book is about global warming and its part in climate change. My hope is that I can talk to you using mostly simple terms and common experiences about certain properties of water, how these are affecting us all, and where climate change has a role in ongoing problems.
I will describe and explain some properties of water that you need to know to understand how water and air interact in a predictable way. Using this knowledge, you can gain an understanding of not only why and how global warming is affecting climate, but also be able to explain many other things you will have seen in daily life and probably never really thought about.
At this point, I should issue a warning that this subject can become a bit obsessive. You could find yourself wandering around saying to yourself, “so what’s happening to the moisture here and why’s it doing that?” Over more than ten years I’ve been asking myself that question and it’s led me into all sorts of areas. Literally, from hurricanes to house mites, such is the diversity of the subject and all explained on some fundamental properties of water.
I suppose it’s only natural that as our bodies are largely made up of water and it is essential for life on our planet, there is a lot going on with water in our everyday lives, most of which we fail to appreciate or begin to understand. We are all of course familiar with the destructive force of water in floods, but there are unseen forces involving water vapour that influence our well being, both positively and negatively.
After having lived a career in science and related subjects, I have kept my interest in science not just in my own work areas but in science generally. Along the way I have picked up useful tips and thought processes and have tried to pass these on by building some of them into the chapters as they progress.
This is not a traditional text book. It is more about looking at things differently and that includes the silly cartoons. I hope you enjoy this trip into the world of moisture.
