Does water escape a solution when the temperature is close to 100 degrees Celsius?
In: Chemistry
The three classical states of matter – solid, liquid, gas – are determined by two classes of forces:
* the force(s) pushing the molecules apart
* the force(s) holding them together
When the latter is *much* stronger, the molecules can barely move at all, producing a solid.
When the latter is *a little* stronger, the molecules can slip and slide over each other and rearrange, but usually still stick together, producing a liquid.
When the latter *is sufficiently weaker*, the molecules freely separate, forming a gas. (The fourth state of matter, plasma, has an ambiguous distinction from gas that depends who you ask.)
Not all substances display all three states. “Dry ice” (CO2), for instance, sublimes directly from a solid to a gas, skipping the liquid state.
The boiling, freezing, etc. temperature of water or any other substance are not static because boiling, freezing, etc. also depends on pressure. Furthermore, impurities in water have their own boiling or freezing temperatures which will affect the water+impurities as a single whole.
Water is also known to *evaporate* when under boiling temperature. This is, effectively, the boiling only of the very surface-most molecules of water, which immediately escape and become vapor in the air while the rest of the water stays the same temperature or even cools down. Evaporation cannot occur if the air is too humid to accept any more vapor particles. There is actually a very, very thin layer between the liquid and the air where water vapor is just sitting there (the Knudsen layer).
Latest Answers