Evaporation happens when a liquid substance becomes a gas. When water is heated, information technology evaporates. The molecules motion and vibrate then apace that they escape into the atmosphere every bit molecules of h2o vapor.

Evaporation is a very of import function of the water cycle. Heat from the sun, or solar energy, powers the evaporation procedure. It soaks up wet from soil in a garden, likewise as the biggest oceans and lakes. The water level volition decrease as information technology is exposed to the heat of the sun.

Although the level of a lake, puddle, or glass of water will decrease due to evaporation, the escaped h2o molecules dont disappear. They stay in the temper, affecting humidity, or the amount of moisture in the air. Areas with high temperatures and big bodies of water, such equally tropical islands and swamps, are usually very boiling for this reason. Water is evaporating, just staying in the air every bit a vapor.

Once water evaporates, it likewise helps form clouds. The clouds so release the moisture as pelting or snow. The liquid h2o falls to Earth, waiting to exist evaporated. The cycle starts all once again.

Many factors affect how evaporation happens. If the air is already clogged, or saturated, with other substances, there wont exist enough room in the air for liquid to evaporate quickly. When the humidity is 100 percent, the air is saturated with water. No more water tin can evaporate.

Air force per unit area also affects evaporation. If air pressure is high on the surface of a body of h2o, so the water volition not evaporate hands. The pressure level pushing down on the water makes it difficult for water to escape into the atmosphere as vapor. Storms are oftentimes loftier-pressure level systems that prevent evaporation.

Temperature, of form, affects how quickly evaporation happens. Boiling-hot water volition evaporate quickly as steam.

Evaporation is the opposite of condensation, the procedure of water vapor turning into liquid water.

The Process of Evaporation

Humid water evaporates into thin air.

Rate of Evaporation
The National Conditions Service in the United States measures the rate of evaporation at different locations every year. Scientists there found that the rate of evaporation can be below 76 centimeters (30 inches) per twelvemonth at the low stop, to 305 centimeters (120 inches) per year on the high end.

air pressure

Noun

force pressed on an object past air or atmosphere.

Noun

layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body.

Substantive

visible mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere.

Noun

process past which water vapor becomes liquid.

disappear

Verb

to vanish or get out without a trace.

Noun

process by which liquid water becomes h2o vapor.

gas

Noun

state of matter with no fixed shape that will fill any container uniformly. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion.

loftier-pressure system

Noun

weather design characterized by loftier air pressure, usually as a consequence of cooling. High-pressure systems are usually associated with clear weather condition.

Noun

corporeality of water vapor in the air.

liquid

Substantive

state of matter with no stock-still shape and molecules that remain loosely bound with each other.

molecule

Noun

smallest physical unit of a substance, consisting of ii or more than atoms linked together.

saturate

Verb

to fill ane substance with as much of some other substance as it can take.

snowfall

Noun

atmospheric precipitation fabricated of water ice crystals.

Noun

radiation from the sun.

storm

Noun

severe weather indicating a disturbed state of the temper resulting from uplifted air.

Noun

trunk of flowing water.

Noun

land permanently saturated with water and sometimes covered with information technology.

Substantive

degree of hotness or coldness measured by a thermometer with a numerical scale.

tropical

Describing word

existing in the tropics, the latitudes between the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the due south.

vapor

Noun

visible liquid suspended in the air, such as fog.

water

Noun

chemical compound that is necessary for all forms of life.

Substantive

motion of water between atmosphere, land, and ocean.

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    Writers

    Kim Rutledge
    Tara Ramroop
    Diane Boudreau
    Melissa McDaniel
    Santani Teng
    Erin Sprout
    Hilary Costa
    Hilary Hall
    Jeff Hunt

    Illustrators

    Mary Crooks, National Geographic Club
    Tim Gunther

    Editors

    Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
    Kara Westward

    Educator Reviewer

    Nancy Wynne

    Producer

    Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

    Sources

    Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Take a chance of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

    Last Updated

    Jan. 21, 2011

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