THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIAL ON THE MOISTURE CONTENT OF STORED WHEAT

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Abstract
Local increases in the moisture content of dry wheat stored in country elevator annexes have occasionally been observed in Western Canada. A laboratory experiment suggests that the chief cause is a temperature differential established during the winter. The air in the warmer parts of the grain contains a greater quantity of water vapour than that in the colder, and moisture is transferred either by diffusion or by the convective movement of the air as a whole. A temperature difference of 35 °C, across 6 ft. of grain having an initial moisture content of 14.6%, caused the moisture content at the cold end (0 °C.) to rise to over 20% in 316 days. The experiment indicates that this movement of moisture is a slow process and that equilibrium conditions are never established for any practical length of time or mass of wheat.

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