evaporation

This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Physics or the Physics Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (November 2008)

Aerosol of microscopic water droplets suspended in the air above a hot tea cup after that water vapor has sufficiently cooled and condensed. Water vapor behaves like a gas and is, thus, invisible, but the clouds of condensed water droplets refract and disperse the sun light and so are visible.

Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid.

On average, the molecules in a glass of water do not have enough heat energy to escape from the liquid. With sufficient heat, the liquid would turn into vapor quickly (see boiling point). When the molecules collide, they transfer energy to each other in varying degrees, based on how they collide. Sometimes the transfer is so one-sided for a molecule near the surface that it ends up with enough energy to 'escape' (evaporate).

Liquids that do not evaporate visibly at a given temperature in a given gas (e.g., cooking oil at room temperature) have molecules that do not tend to transfer energy to each other in a pattern sufficient to frequently give a molecule the heat energy necessary to turn into vapor. However, these liquids are evaporating. It is just that the process is much slower and thus significantly less visible.

Evaporation is an essential part of the water cycle. Solar energy drives evaporation of water from oceans, lakes, moisture in the soil, and other sources of water. In hydrology, evaporation and transpiration (which involves evaporation within plant stomata) are collectively termed evapotranspiration. Evaporation of water occurs when the surface of the liquid is exposed, allowing molecules to escape and form water vapor, this vapor can then rise up and form clouds.

Theory

For molecules of a liquid to evaporate, they must be located near the surface, be moving in the proper direction, and have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome liquid-phase intermolecular forces.^[1] Only a small proportion of the molecules meet these criteria, so the rate of evaporation is limited. Since the kinetic energy of a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds more quickly at higher temperatures. As the faster-moving molecules escape, the remaining molecules have lower average kinetic energy, and the temperature of the liquid, thus, decreases. This phenomenon is also called evaporative cooling. This is why evaporating sweat cools the human body. Evaporation also tends to proceed more quickly with higher flow rates between the gaseous and liquid phase and in liquids with higher vapor pressure. For example, laundry on a clothes line will dry (by evaporation) more rapidly on a windy day than on a still day. Three key parts to evaporation are heat, atmospheric pressure (determines the percent humidity) and air movement.

On a molecular level, there is no strict boundary between the liquid state and the vapor state. Instead, there is a Knudsen layer, where the phase is undetermined. Because this layer is only a few molecules thick, at a macroscopic scale a clear phase transition interface can be seen.

Evaporative equilibrium

Vapor pressure of water vs. temperature. 760 Torr = 1 atm.

If evaporation takes place in a closed vessel, the escaping molecules accumulate as a vapor above the liquid. Many of the molecules return to the liquid, with returning molecules becoming more frequent as the density and pressure of the vapor increases. When the process of escape and return reaches an equilibrium,^[1] the vapor is said to be "saturated," and no further change in either vapor pressure and density or liquid temperature will occur. For a system consisting of vapor and liquid of a pure substance, this equilibrium state is directly related to the vapor pressure of the substance, as given by the Clausius-Clapeyron relation:

where P₁, P₂ are the vapor pressures at temperatures T₁, T₂ respectively, ΔH_vap is the enthalpy of vaporization, and R is the universal gas constant. The rate of evaporation in an open system is related to the vapor pressure found in a closed system. If a liquid is heated, when the vapor pressure reaches the ambient pressure the liquid will boil.

The ability for a molecule of a liquid to evaporate is based largely on the amount of kinetic energy an individual particle may possess. Even at lower temperatures, individual molecules of a liquid can evaporate if they have more than the minimum amount of kinetic energy required for vaporization.

Factors influencing the rate of evaporation

Concentration of the substance evaporating in the air

If the air already has a high concentration of the substance evaporating, then the given substance will evaporate more slowly.

Concentration of other substances in the air

If the air is already saturated with other substances, it can have a lower capacity for the substance evaporating.

Flow rate of air

This is in part related to the concentration points above. If fresh air is moving over the substance all the time, then the concentration of the substance in the air is less likely to go up with time, thus encouraging faster evaporation. This is the result of the boundary layer at the evaporation surface decreasing with flow velocity, decreasing the diffusion distance in the stagnant layer.

Inter-molecular forces

The stronger the forces keeping the molecules together in the liquid state, the more energy one must get to escape. This is characterized by the enthalpy of vaporization.

Pressure

Evaporation happens faster if there is less exertion on the surface keeping the molecules from launching themselves.

Surface area

A substance that has a larger surface area will evaporate faster, as there are more surface molecules that are able to escape.

Temperature of the substance

If the substance is hotter, then its molecules have a higher average kinetic energy, and evaporation will be faster.

Density

The higher the density the slower a liquid evaporates.

In the US, the National Weather Service measures the actual rate of evaporation from a standardized "pan" open water surface outdoors, at various locations nationwide. Others do likewise around the world. The US data is collected and compiled into an annual evaporation map.^[2] The measurements range from under 30 to over 120 inches (3,000 mm) per year.

Applications

• When clothes are hung on a laundry line, even though the ambient temperature is below the boiling point of water, water evaporates. This is accelerated by factors such as low humidity, heat (from the sun), and wind. In a clothes dryer, hot air is blown through the clothes, allowing water to evaporate very rapidly.

• The botijo, a traditional Spanish porous clay container designed to cool the contained water by evaporation.

Combustion vaporization

Fuel droplets vaporize as they receive heat by mixing with the hot gases in the combustion chamber. Heat (energy) can also be received by radiation from any hot refractory wall of the combustion chamber.

Film deposition

Thin films may be deposited by evaporating a substance and condensing it onto a substrate.

See also

Look up evaporation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Atmometer (evaporimeter)
• Condensation
• Crystallisation
• Desalination
• Distillation
• Drying
• Eddy covariance flux (aka eddy correlation, eddy flux)
• Hydrology (agriculture)
• Latent heat flux
• Evaporator
• Evapotranspiration
• Flash evaporation
• Heat of vaporization
• Latent heat
• Pan evaporation
• Transpiration

References