Three Ziploc bags with 100g of flour each were placed in a storage tub with a small layer of water to simulate 100% humidity. Samples of 15g and 25g of CaCl2 were then placed in two of Ziplocs with one Ziploc having no desiccant and the whole tub was put in a larger bag. Each Ziploc had a humidity probe in it. The following data from two of the humidity probes show that desiccants do lower the humidity inside their containers; 25g of desiccant shows a decrease in humidity of up to 60%.
We will do two sessions of using CaCl2 as our desiccant, one session will last for two weeks, the other session will last one week.
1st Session
the first 6 days
After our first use of the humidity probe programs, we became more familiarized with organizing our data.
the next 6 days
It is obvious that CaCl2 is a very good desiccant, keeping relative humidity inside the flour storage bags between 15-25%.
Our attempts to dry the CaCl2 of all water can be found here under results.
2nd Session
In the second session we had the same amount of flour and CaCl2 in 100% humidity. We left the bags open for 1-2 hours at a time a day and then also for two whole days in the middle of the week.
The % humidity in the bag with 25g of cacl2 started higher at around 30% but was working it’s way down to under 20% at the end of this one week. During the two days they were left open the 25g desiccant bag seemed to peak much lower than during its 1-2 hour openings.