Saturated aqueous solutions of inorganic salts are convenient secondary standards for calibration of instruments for measurement of relative humidity. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has recommended salt solutions for calibrations in the range of 10% to 90% relative humidity (RH), and the American Society for Testing and Materials has published similar standards. The data in this table are taken from the IUPAC recommendations, except for K2CO3 and K2SO4, which are ASTM recommendations.
Details on the preparation and use of these standards may be found in Refs. 1 and 2. Data for other salts are given in Ref. 3. Column definitions for the table are as follows.
Column heading | Definition |
Mol. form. | Molecular formula of salt used to make saturated aqueous solutions |
RH(0 °C), RH(10 °C), etc. | Relative humidity, in %, of the saturated aqueous solution at the temperature indicated within the parentheses |
Name | Mol. form. | RH(0 °C)/% | RH(5 °C)/% | RH(10 °C)/% | RH(15 °C)/% | RH(20 °C)/% | RH(25 °C)/% | RH(30 °C)/% | RH(35 °C)/% | RH(40 °C)/% | RH(45 °C)/% | RH(50 °C)/% | RH(55 °C)/% | RH(60 °C)/% | RH(65 °C)/% | RH(70 °C)/% | RH(75 °C)/% | RH(80 °C)/% |
Lithium chloride | LiCl | 11.31 ± 0.31 | 11.30 ± 0.27 | 11.28 ± 0.24 | 11.25 ± 0.22 | 11.21 ± 0.21 | 11.16 ± 0.21 | 11.10 ± 0.22 | 11.03 ± 0.23 | 10.95 ± 0.26 | 10.86 ± 0.29 | 10.75 ± 0.33 | 10.64 ± 0.38 | 10.51 ± 0.44 | ||||
Magnesium chloride | MgCl2 | 33.66 ± 0.33 | 33.60 ± 0.28 | 33.47 ± 0.24 | 33.30 ± 0.21 | 33.07 ± 0.18 | 32.78 ± 0.16 | 32.44 ± 0.14 | 32.05 ± 0.13 | 31.60 ± 0.13 | 31.10 ± 0.13 | 30.54 ± 0.14 | 29.93 ± 0.16 | 29.26 ± 0.18 | 28.54 ± 0.21 | 27.77 ± 0.25 | 26.94 ± 0.29 | 26.05 ± 0.34 |
Potassium carbonate | K2CO3 | 43.1 ± 0.7 | 43.1 ± 0.5 | 43.1 ± 0.4 | 43.2 ± 0.3 | 43.2 ± 0.3 | 43.2 ± 0.4 | 43.2 ± 0.5 | ||||||||||
Magnesium nitrate | Mg(NO3)2 | 60.35 ± 0.55 | 58.86 ± 0.43 | 57.36 ± 0.33 | 55.87 ± 0.27 | 54.38 ± 0.23 | 52.89 ± 0.22 | 51.40 ± 0.24 | 49.91 ± 0.29 | 48.42 ± 0.37 | 46.93 ± 0.47 | 45.44 ± 0.60 | ||||||
Sodium chloride | NaCl | 75.51 ± 0.34 | 75.65 ± 0.27 | 75.67 ± 0.22 | 75.61 ± 0.18 | 75.47 ± 0.14 | 75.29 ± 0.12 | 75.09 ± 0.11 | 74.87 ± 0.12 | |||||||||
Potassium chloride | KCl | 88.61 ± 0.53 | 87.67 ± 0.45 | 86.77 ± 0.39 | 85.92 ± 0.33 | 85.11 ± 0.29 | 84.34 ± 0.26 | 83.62 ± 0.25 | 82.95 ± 0.25 | 82.32 ± 0.25 | 81.74 ± 0.28 | 81.20 ± 0.31 | 80.70 ± 0.35 | 80.25 ± 0.41 | 79.85 ± 0.48 | 79.49 ± 0.57 | 79.17 ± 0.66 | 78.90 ± 0.77 |
Potassium sulfate | K2SO4 | 98.8 ± 2.1 | 98.5 ± 0.9 | 98.2 ± 0.8 | 97.9 ± 0.6 | 97.6 ± 0.5 | 97.3 ± 0.5 | 97.0 ± 0.4 | 96.7 ± 0.4 | 96.4 ± 0.4 | 96.1 ± 0.4 | 95.8 ± 0.5 |