If water boils at 100°C, and boiling is the process of turning liquid into gas, why are bathrooms full of steam when showering at only 40°C?
In: Chemistry
We think of water is a single thing, when that’s not really the case. Having a cup of water is more like having a cup of very tiny marble balls, where the heat/temperature does not evenly distribute (it’s warmer at the top than the bottom as a rule of thumb if not heated or stirred). When water becomes gas where it’s exposed to air (i.e marbles that are on the top) that is evaporation and you don’t need to boil the water, because there is always a little amount of water that can evaporate, but the warmer it gets the more water evaporates. Boiling is when you turn water to gas inside the water and not on the surface.
So in a bath, you can easily see tons of evaporation (cuz its much warmer water than usual), but not boiling.
Latest Answers