Randy said, "It is not surprising that some of us observe minimal evaporation of thymol,
since its vapor pressure is only 0.016 mm Hg at 25 deg C--roughly half that
of water, more in the ballpark of that of oils. "
Water has a vapor pressure of about 24 Torr at 25 deg C. For practical purposes one Torr is one mm of Hg pressure. Thus Thymol has a vapor pressure of only 0.067% of water at 25 deg C, not half as Randy stated. Those blasted decimal places plague all of us. Based on that very low vapor pressure I would expect a pile of a few grams of thymol in a lid to take months or perhaps years to evaporate at hive temps. If it goes away in days the bees must be moving it.
Dick
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