Why Does Water Evaporate At Room Temperature

The average energy can be low and the evaporation still continues.

Why does water evaporate at room temperature.

There is not a specific temperature that water must be in order for it to evaporate. Don t worry you don t have to live in a house that s a scalding 212ºf just for water to disappear on its own. All fluids are always evaporating. Energy is used to break the bonds that hold water molecules together which is why water easily evaporates at the boiling point 212 f 100 c but evaporates much more slowly at the freezing point.

The faster they move the more likely it is that they will break away from the pack and evaporate. It turns out that all liquids can evaporate at room temperature and normal air pressure. When a lot of water vapor is in the air molecules will get bumped up against a surface and stick to it which is why condensation forms on the outside of a cold drink on a humid day. When answering this question it s helpful to think of temperature as kinetic energy that is energy that is transferred.

Heat energy is necessary for evaporation to occur. A fluid has billions of molecules all whizzing around at different speeds. Most molecules have a most probable velocity which is low for water at room temperature. Clearly water does evaporate at 212ºf but it also evaporates at room temperature.

Olive oil in contrast has a very low vapor pressure so it s not likely to evaporate much at room temperature source. However as temperature rises evaporation typically increases because water molecules are moving more quickly. High temperatures just increase the rate of evaporation. You might be wondering how that can happen when the temperature is low.

At higher temperatures water will evaporate faster. Evaporation is all about the energy in individual molecules not about the average energy of a system.