Evaporation and Boiling

Evaporation and boiling have been an indispensable part of our everyday lives. Understanding these terms in the layman language is an important part of our daily life and the tasks that are simultaneously occurring in our environments irrespective of the condition or weather. Boiling an egg, boiling corn, boiling water to cook Maggi, and infinite such processes where boiling of liquid is involved have been a part of our daily lives. All of us have witnessed the occurrence of the Evaporation of liquids around us, but we fail to notice or acknowledge the important role that it plays. 

What is Boiling?

Boiling is the process by which a liquid experiences rapid vaporisation when it is heated at a temperature higher than its boiling point. Every substance has its unique boiling point, which can be attained by providing energy from an external source. 

The existing bonds between the particles in the substance are broken, and then heat is used to increase the temperature of the substance.

If a particular substance boils at a certain temperature, it will always continue to boil at that temperature, no matter what the surrounding conditions or internal conditions of that substance are.

What is Evaporation?

Evaporation is the process by which water converts into vapour form because of the internal energy of the particles. While undergoing evaporation, the temperature of the evaporated material decreases, and simultaneously the temperature of the surface from where absorption takes place decreases.

Evaporation has been a part of our day-to-day activities such as drying the clothes in the sun, cooling of tea, soup, or coffee, ironing of clothes, evaporation of acetone or nail paint remover, etc. There is no specific temperature required for evaporation to take place, and it can occur at any temperature higher than the freezing point.

Evaporation and Boiling: Differences

• Speed

Boiling is a comparatively faster process, while evaporation is a comparatively slower process. If you keep water in a container and boil the same amount of water, boiling will occur at a very fast rate compared to evaporation, and you will be able to observe this variation in speed very easily.

• Temperature Required

For boiling of any liquid, you need to supply heat at a specific temperature above its boiling point while for the evaporation of a liquid, any temperature above the Freezing temperature would work just fine. Although if the water to be evaporated is a little warmer, the evaporation process will be faster. There is no need to supply heat from any external sources for evaporation to occur.

• Source of Energy

For boiling any liquid, you need to use an external source of energy to heat up and raise its temperature above the boiling point. However, evaporation occurs by the usage of the internal energy of the liquid. The heat inside a liquid provides energy for water molecules to escape and evaporate. For example, if you keep the clothes for drying, the water inside will evaporate without the need to supply heat from any external source.

• Formation of Bubbles

You will see the formation of bubbles when a liquid boils, but there will not be any formation of bubbles during evaporation. During evaporation, individual particles leave the liquid and become a part of the environment, while during boiling, several water particles get heated simultaneously, which results in bubbling.

• Change of Temperature

When water boils, it remains at a constant temperature of 100°C. If you boil the water for 10 minutes or an hour, the boiling temperature will not change. However, when water evaporates, its temperature decreases and leads to cooling effects. The liquid that gets evaporated is cooled along with the surface from where evaporation takes place. 

Conclusion

Boiling and evaporation both are inseparable parts of our everyday lives. We may at times fail to acknowledge the importance of both these phenomena in making our lives easier. There are lots of differences between the two. Evaporation takes place at a pace much slower than boiling. You can see the formation of bubbles during boiling but not during evaporation. People may even fail to acknowledge the importance of both these phenomena and their co-existence as a part of our daily lives. Keeping a close eye on things happening around us, trying to investigate the probable reason behind the activities taking place, and developing a deeper understanding of our natural phenomena will help enhance our knowledge and give us a better perspective to observe and experience things.