dew cell

dew cell

[′dü ‚sel]

(engineering)

An instrument used to determine the dew point, consisting of a pair of spaced, bare electrical wires wound spirally around an insulator and covered with a wicking wetted with a water solution containing an excess of lithium chloride; an electrical potential applied to the wires causes a flow of current through the lithium chloride solution, which raises the temperature of the solution until its vapor pressure is in equilibrium with that of the ambient air.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.