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Name: Robert
Status: other
Grade: 12+
Location: WA
Country: USA
Date: Spring 2012
Question:
Can actual air pressure ever be greater than saturation air pressure? If so, how?

Replies:
Robert,

To clarify the question, I assume that you are asking whether air pressure can ever be greater than the air pressure when the air is saturated. When you add water vapor to the air, you are adding molecules that have less mass than the molecules that compose dry air. If the air parcel remained at the same volume and temperature as the dry air, the air pressure of the saturated parcel would be greater.

David R. Cook Meteorologist Climate Research Section Environmental Science Division Argonne National Laboratory

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