“Could”. What kind of fucking title is this?
Either it does or it doesn’t.
“Could”. What kind of fucking title is this?
Either it does or it doesn’t.
The massic heat capacity of water is 4184 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹
. To heat one 1 Liter (1 kg) of water from 30ºC to 100ºC it would take 4184×(100-30) = 2.929e5 J
. We want 4 liters however, so we multiply that by 4 and get 2.929e5 J × 4 = 1,172e6 J
To then turn that heated water into vapor it would require some more energy. The vaporization enthalpy of water is 4,066e4 J⋅mol⁻¹
, and has a molar density of 1,80153e-2 kg⋅mol⁻¹
(so 4 liters (4 kg) of water in moles would be 4 / 1,80153e-2 = 2,22033e2 mol
), which means that to vaporize the four liters of water we would need 2,22033e2 × 4,066e4 = 9,028e6 J
(I think I might have made a mistake here somewhere, because I don't think it would only need 8 times more energy to completely vaporize the water, compared to the amount of energy required to heat it, but I can't find the problem). So the total energy to heat and vaporize 30 ºC water would be 9,028e6 + 1,172e6 = 1.020e7 J
Let's take a 55x40x23 cm suitcase. And let's assume a solar irradiance of 1000 W⋅m⁻² (which is what this site says is a normal solar irradiance to be expected on a clear day on the equator). Let's assume three faces are exposed to the sun and all equally so (three faces receive 1000 W⋅m⁻² while the other three receive none, which would not happen since on a rectangular cuboid, like a suitcase, you can't have all three faces facing directly towards the sun). The box would be receiving (0.55×0.40+0.40×0.23+0.55×0.23)×1000 = 438.5 W
, which means that over one hour (3600 s), it would receive 438.5×(3600) = 1,5786e6 J
, which is less than the required 1.020e7 J
(by almost an order of magnitude), so it wouldn't be possible to heat and vaporize 4 liters of water in an hour.
What am I missing?
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.