3044: Humidifier Review - Revision history

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Cheesesentience at 18:08, 6 March 2025

2025-03-06T18:08:55Z

DollarStoreBa'al at 03:33, 27 February 2025

2025-02-27T03:33:32Z

DollarStoreBa'al at 20:50, 26 February 2025

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DollarStoreBa'al at 20:45, 26 February 2025

2025-02-26T20:45:50Z

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DollarStoreBa'al at 20:44, 26 February 2025

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2025-02-26T20:27:16Z

‎Explanation

DollarStoreBa'al at 20:26, 26 February 2025

2025-02-26T20:26:06Z

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 This comic shows a review of a {{w|humidifier}}, with the reviewer complaining that it uses too much water to increase the humidity of the room to 45%. On the face of it, someone buying a humidifier for the first time might not have an understanding of how much water the device needs, and could be taken by surprise (possibly when their water bill arrives, or by the number of times they are required to manually refill its reservoir). The review in the comic has taken it a step further, voicing their complaint as a flaw in this specific humidifier and wishing another model could somehow achieve the same results with less water.
-A humidifier works by evaporating water from a tank, causing the air around it to become more humid. The law of {{w|conservation of molecular quantity}} states that the amount of matter in any closed system must stay constant, with the corollary that the amount of any substance in a system can only increase by introducing more, or by generating the substance from existing matter in the system. The humidity level in a given space is a function of the amount of water vapor in the air (in comparison to the saturation levels of water vapor at the given temperature and pressure). Which means that water must be added in order to increase humidity levels under any given conditions.
+A humidifier works by evaporating water from a tank, causing the air around it to become more humid. The law of {{w|conservation of mass}} states that the amount of matter in any closed system must stay constant, with the corollary that the amount of any substance in a system can only increase by introducing more, or by generating the substance from existing matter in the system. The humidity level in a given space is a function of the amount of water vapor in the air (in comparison to the saturation levels of water vapor at the given temperature and pressure). Which means that water must be added in order to increase humidity levels under any given conditions.
 Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense.  The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 The joke in the title text is based on different senses of the word "conservation". To most people this refers to reducing wasted use of some material, e.g. "water conservation" means avoiding waste of water. But to physicists, it means that some quantity in a system stays the same; for instance, conservation of energy means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. For many years, most appliances have had {{w|Energy Star}} stickers that indicate their impact on the environment; by adopting the physicists' sense, they can trivially say they support water conservation.
-Reviews have also been featured in [https://xkcd.com/937/ 937: TornadoGuard], [https://xkcd.com/1036/ 1036: Reviews], and [https://xkcd.com/1869/ 1869: Positive and Negative Reviews].
+Reviews have also been featured in [[937: TornadoGuard]], [[1036: Reviews]], and [[1869: Positive and Negative Reviews]].
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:08, 6 March 2025
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	{{incomplete\|Created by a 101% EFFICIENT TOASTER. This page was clearly autogenerated by an AI that does not understand the comic nor humidity engineering. I tried to improve the first paragraph. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

	This comic shows a review of a {{w\|humidifier}}, with the reviewer complaining that it uses too much water to increase the humidity of the room to 45%. On the face of it, someone buying a humidifier for the first time might not have an understanding of how much water the device needs, and could be taken by surprise (possibly when their water bill arrives, or by the number of times they are required to manually refill its reservoir). The review in the comic has taken it a step further, voicing their complaint as a flaw in this specific humidifier and wishing another model could somehow achieve the same results with less water.		This comic shows a review of a {{w\|humidifier}}, with the reviewer complaining that it uses too much water to increase the humidity of the room to 45%. On the face of it, someone buying a humidifier for the first time might not have an understanding of how much water the device needs, and could be taken by surprise (possibly when their water bill arrives, or by the number of times they are required to manually refill its reservoir). The review in the comic has taken it a step further, voicing their complaint as a flaw in this specific humidifier and wishing another model could somehow achieve the same results with less water.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 This comic shows a review of a {{w|humidifier}}, with the reviewer complaining that it uses too much water to increase the humidity of the room to 45%. On the face of it, someone buying a humidifier for the first time might not have an understanding of how much water the device needs, and could be taken by surprise (possibly when their water bill arrives, or by the number of times they are required to manually refill its reservoir). The review in the comic has taken it a step further, voicing their complaint as a flaw in this specific humidifier and wishing another model could somehow achieve the same results with less water.
-A humidifier works by evaporating water from a tank, causing the air around it to become more humid. The law of {{w|conservation of mass}} states that the amount of matter in any closed system must stay constant, with the corollary that the amount of any substance in a system can only increase by introducing more, or by generating the substance from existing matter in the system. The humidity level in a given space is a function of the amount of water vapor in the air (in comparison to the saturation levels of water vapor at the given temperature and pressure). Which means that water must be added in order to increase humidity levels under any given conditions.
+A humidifier works by evaporating water from a tank, causing the air around it to become more humid. The law of {{w|conservation of molecular quantity}} states that the amount of matter in any closed system must stay constant, with the corollary that the amount of any substance in a system can only increase by introducing more, or by generating the substance from existing matter in the system. The humidity level in a given space is a function of the amount of water vapor in the air (in comparison to the saturation levels of water vapor at the given temperature and pressure). Which means that water must be added in order to increase humidity levels under any given conditions.
 Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense.  The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:50, 26 February 2025
Line 17:		Line 17:

	Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough\|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense. The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.		Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough\|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense. The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.
−
−	Other examples of commonly-used, commonly-reviewed household devices whose operational efficiency is limited by the laws of physics themselves include resistive heaters, such as {{w\|space heater\|space heaters}} and {{w\|electric water boiler\|electric kettles}}. Resistive heaters convert electricity directly into heat with 100% efficiency, and so the amount of power they consume is directly dictated by the amount of heat they're required to produce. Similar to the humidifier, complaining about a specific resistance heater drawing too much power is unfair, since any heater working on the same principle would draw the same amount of electricity to do the same job.
−
−	By contrast, coolers and heaters using refrigeration cycles, such as {{w\|air conditioning\|air conditioners}}, {{w\|refrigerator\|refrigerators}}, and {{w\|heat pump\|heat pumps}}, can vary in efficiency, and therefore in the amount of power consumed for a given task. There is a maximum possible efficiency dictated by thermodynamics, but different designs may be farther away from this ideal efficiency, so the cost of running them ''may'' be a reasonable criticism.
−
−	~~Reviews which indicate the ignorance or [[937:_TornadoGuard\|gullibility]] of the reviewer, or which indicate the [[325:_A-Minus-Minus\|vindictive nature]] of the vendor, are a common theme in XKCD.~~

	The joke in the title text is based on different senses of the word "conservation". To most people this refers to reducing wasted use of some material, e.g. "water conservation" means avoiding waste of water. But to physicists, it means that some quantity in a system stays the same; for instance, conservation of energy means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. For many years, most appliances have had {{w\|Energy Star}} stickers that indicate their impact on the environment; by adopting the physicists' sense, they can trivially say they support water conservation.		The joke in the title text is based on different senses of the word "conservation". To most people this refers to reducing wasted use of some material, e.g. "water conservation" means avoiding waste of water. But to physicists, it means that some quantity in a system stays the same; for instance, conservation of energy means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. For many years, most appliances have had {{w\|Energy Star}} stickers that indicate their impact on the environment; by adopting the physicists' sense, they can trivially say they support water conservation.

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 The joke in the title text is based on different senses of the word "conservation". To most people this refers to reducing wasted use of some material, e.g. "water conservation" means avoiding waste of water. But to physicists, it means that some quantity in a system stays the same; for instance, conservation of energy means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. For many years, most appliances have had {{w|Energy Star}} stickers that indicate their impact on the environment; by adopting the physicists' sense, they can trivially say they support water conservation.
-Reviews of other appliances have also been featured in [xkcd.com/937 937: TornadoGuard], [https://xkcd.com/1036/ 1036: Reviews], and [xkcd.com/1869 1869: Positive and Negative Reviews].
+Reviews of other appliances have also been featured in [https://xkcd.com/937/ 937: TornadoGuard], [https://xkcd.com/1036/ 1036: Reviews], and [https://xkcd.com/1869/ 1869: Positive and Negative Reviews].
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:27, 26 February 2025
Line 17:		Line 17:

	Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough\|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense. The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.		Unless the humidifier is leaking liquid water (which would likely be detected and mentioned), the amount of water the humidifier "consumes" is the same as the amount of water vapor added to the air (unless the [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough\|machinery is made by Beret Guy]]). The amount required depends on the relative humidity level (which is set by the user), air temperature and pressure, the rate of air movement out of the room, and any other sources of humidity present. The humidifier has no control over any of those variables, which means that any humidifier maintaining the same humidity levels under the same conditions must consume the same amount of water. This is not a comment on the quality or design of the specific humidifier, and blaming it on the device makes no sense. The humor is thus at the expense of people who don't understand the requirements of their appliances (or other hypothetical services) and complain in ignorance about the impossible not being made possible for their convenience.
−
−	In principle, a {{w\|particle accelerator}} could be used to create protons from energy, either directly, or indirectly as a product of the decay of other particles. Protons are hydrogen nuclei, and could be reacted with oxygen from the air to create water. However, such devices are not conveniently small, consume vast amounts of energy, involve dangerous and inconvenient radiation and magnetic fields, and generate a great deal of heat which would decrease the relative humidity. Thus, they are not a practical method of increasing humidity in a room.{{Citation needed}}

	Other examples of commonly-used, commonly-reviewed household devices whose operational efficiency is limited by the laws of physics themselves include resistive heaters, such as {{w\|space heater\|space heaters}} and {{w\|electric water boiler\|electric kettles}}. Resistive heaters convert electricity directly into heat with 100% efficiency, and so the amount of power they consume is directly dictated by the amount of heat they're required to produce. Similar to the humidifier, complaining about a specific resistance heater drawing too much power is unfair, since any heater working on the same principle would draw the same amount of electricity to do the same job.		Other examples of commonly-used, commonly-reviewed household devices whose operational efficiency is limited by the laws of physics themselves include resistive heaters, such as {{w\|space heater\|space heaters}} and {{w\|electric water boiler\|electric kettles}}. Resistive heaters convert electricity directly into heat with 100% efficiency, and so the amount of power they consume is directly dictated by the amount of heat they're required to produce. Similar to the humidifier, complaining about a specific resistance heater drawing too much power is unfair, since any heater working on the same principle would draw the same amount of electricity to do the same job.

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 The joke in the title text is based on different senses of the word "conservation". To most people this refers to reducing wasted use of some material, e.g. "water conservation" means avoiding waste of water. But to physicists, it means that some quantity in a system stays the same; for instance, conservation of energy means that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. For many years, most appliances have had {{w|Energy Star}} stickers that indicate their impact on the environment; by adopting the physicists' sense, they can trivially say they support water conservation.
-Reviews of other appliances have also been featured in [[https://xkcd.com/1036/ 1036: Reviews]]
+Reviews of other appliances have also been featured in [https://xkcd.com/1036/ 1036: Reviews]
 ==Transcript==