Will my wet clothes dry if I hang them under the sun, and if there is no air around the clothes? In other words, do I need both air and heat to dry wet clothes, or is heat alone (in the imagined absence of any air) enough to dry wet clothes? Related question : will wet clothes dry with only the suns heat, but when placed in a vacuum? Please note – I am trying to dry my clothes differently on earth, and not in outer space.
[Physics] Drying clothes with the sun’s heat, without any air
airthermodynamicsvacuum
Best Answer
I don't understand the difference between the first and the second question, but the answer is "No, you don't need air for the clothes to dry".
In fact, it will dry faster if in vacuum, because the water will start to boil in zero pressure, even if the temperature is not 100º C. In fact, at zero pressure, water cannot exist in liquid, but will evaporate if the temperature is above roughly 200 K (i.e. –73º C), and freeze if it's below.
This is what happens to comets. Comets are clumps of ice and dust. When they get close to the Sun, they start to evaporate (or sublimate, to be more precise), and the released gasses and ions is what we see as their tails.