Is the steam from a hot liquid the heating up of the liquid itself or the air around it?

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So if it’s the steam is a product of say the hot tea, would the liquid reduce as the steam is produced? Or is it the heating up of the air around it, so the amount of steam is only dependant on the temperature of the tea being more than the air around it?

In: Physics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Steam is water vapour. It is caused by the evaporation of the water in your tea. If you boil a pan of water long enough, eventually all the water will turn into steam and boil away. The water in a cup of tea is doing the same, but not enough to noticeably affect the amount in there.

What’s slightly confusing is that steam is actually invisible. What you can see are water droplets condensing in the air. That means that when the air is colder you’ll see more ‘steam’, even though your tea is the same temperature and isn’t evaporating any faster.

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