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A model of drop size distribution for a system with evaporation
Author(s) -
BRAIN P.,
BUTLER D. R.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/1365-3040.ep11604646
Subject(s) - drop (telecommunication) , dryness , evaporation , population , mechanics , volume (thermodynamics) , mathematics , materials science , thermodynamics , physics , engineering , telecommunications , demography , medicine , surgery , sociology
. The size and shape of drops on leaf surfaces strongly affect their persistence. The relationship between volume and exposed surface area of drops on wheat leaves and the log‐normal drop size distribution in a wheat canopy after rain are used to derive equations to describe how the total volume and drop number change with evaporation. Firstly, the behaviour of a single drop as it evaporates is considered and then equations describing the change in a population of drops with an initial log‐normal distribution are derived. The time taken for all the drops to reach complete dryness is about thirty times that for the same volume of water spread uniformly over the surface with the same potential evaporation rate.