Quantifying vapor transfer into evaporating ethanol drops in a humid atmosphere.

The effect of ambient temperature and relative humidity on the dynamics of ethanol drop evaporation is investigated. Although drop evaporation of mixtures and pure fluids has been extensively studied, very little is known about the transition from a pure fluid to a binary mixture following transfer of a second component present in the atmosphere. This is of importance for industrial, biological and medical applications where the purity of the solvent is paramount.