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?
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Ok, first, what is temperature? Temperature is a measure of thermal energy. What is thermal energy? A simple way to look at thermal energy is as the energy contained within the random movement of the molecules. The faster the water molecules move in random directions, vibrations etc. the higher the temperature. Now, this is a statistical measure, specifically the average of a sample. This means that some molecules in a sample are going to be less or more energetic. Single particles or molecules do not have a temperature.
In practice this means that you will always have some water molecules with enough energy to escape the confines of their liquid prison. This is why water evaporates at temperatures below boiling point.
As we heat water, and the average energy of the molecules increases, more molecules are able to evaporate. Boiling point (100°C) is special. Were we to draw a chart with the amount of energy we are dumping into the water and the resulting temperature we would see a flat section. This is because at this point all of the additional energy is going directly into “yeeting” water molecules out of their liquid prison as they have already reached the maximum energy that they can have as a liquid.
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