We had a summer rain shower yesterday. Afterwards I could see steam rising off the street as the water evaporated. I could walk barefoot on that street before the shower and while the water was evaporating. If the water was boiling away, surely I wouldn’t be able to walk across it without scalding my foot.
What’s going on here?
In: Planetary Science
Water can evaporate at any temperature. Even ice can sublimate directly to vapor.
What you are talking about re: boiling is water becoming steam. Steam has more energy in it than water vapor below the boiling point.
Think of the air as a sponge. The warmer the air, the bigger the sponge (warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air). If the sponge is big and dry, more water can evaporate into it. But if that same air cools down, it can’t hold that vapor anymore and it becomes liquid again (like when you have a cold drink and water forms on the container).
Latest Answers