The key difference between moisture content and water content is that moisture content determines the amount of water vapour and other volatile components present in a sample, whereas water content determines the amount of water in a sample.
Usually, we use the terms moisture content and water content interchangeably, thinking that they mean the same. However, there is a slight difference between them because moisture content measures the total amount of vapour in a sample (it mostly refers to the water vapour) while water content measures the total amount of (liquid or vapour) water in a sample.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Moisture Content
3. What is Water Content
4. Side by Side Comparison – Moisture Content vs Water Content in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Moisture Content?
Moisture content is a parameter that can be used to describe the wetness of a sample. The term moisture refers to the vapour phase of a liquid, especially water. Moisture can occur either diffused in a solid or on a surface after condensation. Usually, the moisture content is a very small amount. A good example of moisture includes water vapour present in the air.
Figure 01: Soil Composition; Soil, Water and Air Content in a Diagram
Especially, this moisture content parameter is used for soil. We call it “the soil moisture content”. The moisture in soil occurs at internal surfaces and as capillary condensed water in small pores of the soil. Generally, in the determination of the moisture content of a soil sample, we use heat treatment methods. These are called drying methods. For instance, oven dry method is where the soil sample is weighed before and after placing it in an oven at a particular temperature to observe the change in the weight. The change in weight equals the amount of moisture present in the sample since, upon heating, we can assume all the moisture evolves from the sample.
What is Water Content?
Water content is a parameter that can be used to describe the total amount of water present in a sample. This parameter includes all the water in the vapour phase and the liquid phase. Therefore, the value of water content is usually higher than the moisture content.
There are two major methods we can use to measure the water content. They are the direct method and the laboratory method. In the direct drying method, we can oven dry the sample to determine the change in weight of the sample where water evaporates, and the weight is lost from the sample. The laboratory method of determining the water content includes titrations with certain chemical reagents.
What is the Difference Between Moisture Content and Water Content?
Moisture content and water content are important analytical parameters that can be used to analyze different samples in chemistry. These parameters are important in describing the composition of the sample. The key difference between moisture content and water content is that moisture content determines the amount of water vapour and other volatile components present in a sample, whereas water content determines the amount of water in a sample.
Below infographic summarizes the difference between moisture content and water content.
Summary – Moisture Content vs Water Content
Moisture content and water content are important analytical parameters that can be used to analyze different samples in chemistry. The key difference between moisture content and water content is that moisture content determines the amount of water vapour and other volatile components present in a sample, whereas water content determines the amount of water in a sample.
Reference:
1. “Water Content.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2020, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Soil-phase-diagram” By Derivative work: 5d7ygtr09hSjhan81 – Soilcomposition.png (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Analysis set up for both free and total sulphur content in a wine sample” By Robert Pitkin – IMGP3651 (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia