What happens to water vapor after it's sucked into a jet engine? How does this add to air pollution, exactly?

Question

I'm in L.A.---I see the planes landing and right now (Mother's Day weekend), we have a condition known as a "marine layer". That's a fancy name for fog from the Pacific. I watch the planes go through it, and you figure out the rest...

Answer 1

Flying through fog is the same as flying through a cloud. Water vapor enters the turbine and exits mixed with combustion gases. Nothing changes.

It does not add to pollution. The burning of fossil fuels (in this case Jet A) adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, regardless of flying conditions.

But consider that if all planes stopped flying today the amount of greenhouse gases would only be reduced by less than 2%.

Answer 2

First of all, when you're talking fog, you're talking

droplets, not vapor.

The water would vaporize in the burner section,

marginally increasing thrust and richening the mixture.

Not enough to matter much.

You just might see a bit of smoke as the engine controls

deal with the mixture change if the layer is sharp edged.

Answer 3

When water vapor enters a jet engine, it is heated up like the rest of the air that enters, and exits the engine at high temp. This is what causes contrials at high alitudes, as the water vapor cools down, it freezes and forms a ice cloud that is visible, the more water vapor (humidity) present, the longer and more visible the contrail will last.

What causes pollution is the burning of fossil fuels, in this case Jet A, which has hydrocarbons and sulfer in it, that when burned releases  Carbon Dioxide which can combine with water to form carbonic acid, and the sulfer released can from acid rain whcih is polluantant.

Also the carbon dioxide can cause green house gases, if you actully belive in global warming.

Answer 4

Water doesn't add to air pollution.

Answer 5

The truth is that it doesnt increase pollution, but when there is high humidity accompanying high levels of pollution the water condenses on the pollution particles.

Answer 6

CC, fog does nothing to an engine, whether it be a prop, jet, ram-jet, high by-pass jet, or a v-8 Chevy. There is no appreciable amount of water in fog. It only takes about a bucket full of water to make a runway zero -zero. The water droplets that make up fog are so tiny that they are almost microscopic.

Any water vapor, such is thick, as in a cloud or thin, as in fog are either passed through the by-pass by the fan in the jet engine, or, if it goes through the combustion chamber changed to steam, which condenses after being exhausted along with the water formed by the combustion of the fuel. The water just changes from liquid to gas to liquid states.

This does not add to pollution at all. Period.

The human body has the same effect on fog as a jet engine. Sucks it in, pushes it out. Fog in, water vapor out. Only changes its matter state.

Regards,

Dan