If steam is formed at 100°C, what is being produced at 80-90°C?

Question

Steam is formed at 100°C but I see “steam” being produced at less than that temperature. What is that and why isn’t it steam?

In: 33

Answer 1

A material’s temperature is a measurement of how much its molecules are jiggling around. A liquid like water turns into a gas when its molecules jiggle hard enough to escape the liquid’s surface.

At 100 degrees celsius, all of the molecules are jiggling hard enough to escape, but even at lower temperatures some molecules will be jiggling in just the right way to escape anyway, or they’ll be knocked out by other molecules.