Data said:

My guess is that it's something akin to salt creep, except the evaporation rate at the meniscus is what is keeping the droplets of concentrated tincture above the bulk fluid. Once the fan is turned off and the evaporation slows below a critical rate, gravity takes over and pulls the accumulated droplets of concentrate back down into the bulk fluid.

But this is a guess, so

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It looks like some of the cannabinoids are getting dragged up the side of the glass as the alcohol evaporates and flowing back down when the alcohol turns to vapor. I think that when I turn the fan on, it creates a kind of pressure wave based on a temperature difference, and the cannabinoids are floating on this pressure wave of warm/cool air.



But again this is a guess.

Does anyone believe I'm losing cannabinoids here? The alcohol never gets above 165f so I can't see how any cannabinoids are escaping, but I'm a novice at this chemistry stuff.

Quote:

"Hi Niteowl, very interesting! Here is what I think is going on. When the fan is on you are carrying away both evaporated alcohol and a small amount of evaporated oil. However, not all evaporated alcohol and oil gets blown away. A small amount of alcohol and oil condense back onto the side of the pan. This is the oil ring you see. However once you turn off the fan then you aren't blowing away the evaporated alcohol. This alcohol now condenses on the sides of the pan and it drips down carrying the oil with it back into the pan. When you have a fan blowing over the top of a hot mixture like that it will make everything evaporate faster. Even though the oil has a higher boiling point you are still losing some to evaporation, though not nearly as much as the alcohol."

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