Why do liquids evaporate below their boiling temperature.

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Water’s boiling temperature is 100C or 212F, when you spill some on concrete or leave a cup of water outside, it disappears without it reaching 100C even if it is in the shade. The water from the ocean also evaporates, but it is not boiling. This happens with other liquids to such as isopropyl alcohol, or gasoline.

How does this happen?

In: Chemistry

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because “temperature” is a property that only exists in collections of particles, each particle itself only has it’s own energy. So, all a particle on the surface needs, in order to evaporate, is to get hit from behind with enough force to overcome the bonding forces between it and the other particles.

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