What happens when a liquid boils?
When a liquid is heated, at a certain point it begins to change to a gas, or vapour. This happens because at high temperatures the molecules in the liquid move faster, until they escape into the air. Light molecules escape more easily than heavy a molecule, which means that heavy, thick liquids only boil at very high temperatures.
The boiling point of a liquid depends on the air pressure. The pressure becomes lower at altitude, so high up on a mountain slope; water boils at a much lower temperature than normal. Water boils at 100°C at sea level, but at only 72°C at an altitude of 3,048 m.
What is evaporation?
Evaporation happens when a liquid or a solid changes to a gas. It is a similar process to boiling, because it involves the molecules of a liquid passing into the air. The process of evaporation is much slower when the air above the liquid is already full of molecules of vapour. For example, water will evaporate only very slowly on a warm, damp day when the air is already saturated with water vapour.
As a liquid evaporates it loses heat energy, making it cooler. This is the principle on which refrigerators and air conditioners work. Evaporation of water from the seas and land produces water vapour in the form of clouds, which eventually drop water back onto the Earth’s surface as rain.
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