AERIAL WELLS - WATER FROM THE AIR

AERIAL WELLS, A DEVICE USED IN ANTIQUITY, ARE MOUNDS OF ROCKS WHICH COLLECT MOISTURE FROM THE AIR AND RELEASE WATER. THEY WORK BEST IN ARID REGIONS WHERE SOLAR HEATING AND RADIATIVE COOLING ARE LARGE. THE PROGRAM WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT "HYDROGENESIS", AN APPARENT NATURAL PHENOMENON, IS THE PRINCIPLE EXPLOITED IN THE AERIAL WELL. A WORKING HYPOTHESIS WILL ASSERT THAT WATER IS COLLECTED BY DIFFUSION INTO MICRO PORES OF ROCKS AND THAT THERE IS ENOUGH DIFFUSION POTENTIAL FOR WATER TO COLLECT AT TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE DEW POINT OF THE FREE AIR. ANALYTICAL MODELS OF CONTROLLING PHENOMENA, WATER COLLECTION, RETENTION AND RELEASE WILL BE DEVELOPED TO EXPLORE THE WELLS' PERFORMANCE. THE MODELS WILL BE BASED ON FICK'S DIFFUSION EQUATION, MARANGONI'S EFFECT AND GIBB'S FREE ENERGY EQUATION. A ONE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTERIZED MODEL WILL BE PREPARED IN PHASE I. FINITE DIFFERENCE EQUATIONS WILL BE WRITTEN AND SOLVED FOR A CONCEPTUAL AERIAL WELL. ANSWERS WILL GIVE INSIGHT INTO THE CONTROLLING PHENOMENA AS A FUNCTION OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES LIKE HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE, AS WELL AS OPTIMUM MATERIAL PROPERTIES. A BASELINE AND IMPACTS OF BUILDING MODERN AERIAL WELLS IN ARID AREAS OF THE NATION WILL BE ASSESSED.