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When the temperature of the leaf (or any other surface, for that matter) drops below the dewpoint of the surrounding air, water will condense on it. If the dewpoint is below freezing, the water will condense directly into a solid, otherwise known as frost. Something interesting is that the a surface can be colder than the surrounding air, because under the right circumstances it can be cooled by radiation to the sky. Dew formation causes release of significant amounts of latent heat, warming the surface and the surrounding air. As the night begins the temperature can drop rapidly through radiative cooling of the ground, but once dew starts to form the rate of temperature decrease drops dramatically. Therefore, on a fairly clear night with no frontal passage, the dewpoint the evening before is a pretty good prediction of the low temperature the next morning.

Answer In addition to the above, plants also exude moisture which will form droplets on the leaves in the morning, especially when humidity is high. This is called guttation and can be confused with dew (and both phenomena can occur at the same time).

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14y ago
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12y ago

When precipitation falls from the sky, it evaporates from the ground and becomes water vapor (a gas). The water vapor in the air then cools over-night and condenses. The condensation creates small water droplets, a.k.a. dew.

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15y ago

At night, the lack of solar radiation causes surfaces on the Earth to cool. If the surface is significantly cooler than the ambient air temperature, dew will form.

Specifically, a parcel of warm and moist air in contact with the cooler ground will have its temperature reduced to the "dew point temperature". Once air reaches the dew point temperature, saturation is reached and the gaseous water in the air is able to condense back to its liquid form. If the surfaces are below freezing, the water vapor will change phase directly to the solid form (ice). This is called frost.

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15y ago

Dew is formed when moisture in the atmosphere condenses on cool surfaces at night.

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14y ago

air humidity which condences as air temp' drop

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15y ago

The weather change.

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11y ago

You Figure it out wicked good yaself bub!

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Q: What causes dew to form on plant leaves during a cool night?
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