Scientific Notes

Boiling and Evaporation

Boiling is very rapid evaporation starting at the bottom of a container of water. Evaporation occurs fastest where there is the most heat (energy). When we heat water to make it boil, we heat it from the bottom so the evaporation occurs at the bottom of the pot. As a result, large bubbles of water vapor form at the bottom and rise to the surface in the boiling action. If we applied the same heat to the top surface of the water it would evaporate just as quickly but we would not call it boiling because the bubbles would not form and rise to the surface. Normally evaporation occurs at a much slower rate than boiling because most evaporation occurs with room temperature water. Evaporation-is the escape of molecules from the liquid state to the gas or vapor state. In evaporation, molecules of higher-than-average kinetic energy escape from a liquid, leaving it cooler than it was before they escaped. Boiling-is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to the external pressure above the liquid. When we give the boiling point of a liquid, we need also to state the pressure.