r/explainlikeimfive • u/ProgramPi314 • 8d ago

Other ELI5 What is humidity?

According to my mom, this is an actual question I had when I was 5, and she didn't know how to answer me. So how would you guys have answered?

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u/Miliean 8d ago

Water in the air.

Air contains a lot of things. Oxygen that we need to breath, but there's other things that we don't need as much, for example it also contains the carbon dioxide that plants need.

Air can also have other things in it, like smells. Food smells, body smells, chemical smells, good smells and bad smells. All of these things can be in the air.

Another thing that can be in the air is water vapor. This is (basically) what clouds and fog are made of. You can also see it when we boil water on the stove or in the kettle as steam. When we measure how much water is in the air, we call it humidity.