Dear Tom,
I remember you saying that baseballs fly farther in humid weather. Logically, this would apply to golf balls too, but my golfing friends think I’m nuts.
Judy Edward, Palm Coast, Fla.
Dear Judy,
You are absolutely correct. It seems counterintuitive, but humid air is less dense than dry air at the same temperature and air pressure. A projectile flying through humid air will travel slightly farther than it would in dry air.
Here’s why: The proportionally averaged molecular weight of the primary gases of which dry air is composed (78 percent nitrogen, molecular weight 28 and 21 percent oxygen, weight 32) is 29. A water molecule, however, has a weight of 18. When water vapor is added to the mix of atmospheric gases, the mix becomes less dense.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
