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Evaporation and cooling

Concept

Escaping molecules can remove energy from a liquid.

Explanation or usage

Molecules in a liquid have a range of energies. Escape favors molecules able to overcome attractions near the surface, so departing molecules can lower the remaining liquid's average energy unless energy is supplied to replace what they carry away. Evaporation can happen below the boiling temperature and depends on environmental conditions.

Common misunderstandings

A liquid must boil before any of it can evaporate.

In The Body

General context reviewed · book attribution and sources pending

Sweating can cool the body when sweat evaporates; humidity and airflow affect the process.

Linked books

Practice this item

What directly produces the evaporative cooling associated with sweat? At otherwise similar conditions, why can high humidity reduce cooling from sweating?