Let’s suppose that potatoes (by weight) are 99% water and 1%, well, potato!
If we take a 100 pound bag of potatoes out and put them in the hot June sun, the water will begin to evaporate. If we monitor the moisture content (which starts at 99%, of course) and we weigh the potatoes just when the moisture content gets to 98% (precisely), then how much will the potatoes weigh at that moment?

How much will they weigh when the moisture content is 50%?

Well, at 100 lbs, there's 1 lb of potato and 99 lbs of water. The 1 lb of potato will remain constant. At 98%, then the 1 lb of potatoes is now 2% of the weight, so the water is now 49 lbs and the potato 1 lb, so it weighs 50 lbs. When you finally get to the point of 50%-50%, the 1 lb of potato is still 1 lb, and the other equally sized 50% is also 1 lb, so you have a 2 lbs of incredible shrinking potato.

Posted by Lawrence on 2003-08-24 17:51:17