Water in Your Breath

By Edith Hope Fine

Photo: Nannette Bedway.

Sprinkle salt onto a dry plastic lid. Watch the salt move as you gently shake the lid. Now take a deep breath, hold the lid close to your mouth, and slowly exhale at least one breath of warm air onto the salt. Does the salt still move when you shake the lid?

What happened? Your breath carried tiny droplets of water out of your lungs, and the salt clumped up as it absorbed some of that moisture.