What is the Meaning of: Evaporation | Concept and Definition of: Evaporation
From the latin evaporatĭo, evaporation is the action and the effect of evaporating or evaporate. This verb, in turn, refers to the conversion of a liquid into vapour.
The concept can refer to the same physical process (a substance separates another at its boiling point) or the passage of the State liquid to gas. The substance in liquid state receives the energy required to overcome the surface tension: when the whole mass reaches the boiling point, the evaporation process begins.
Evaporation is a hydrological variable that determines the levels of a watershed (the ocean, for example). Energy increases the movement of molecules and particles begin to escape in the form of steam. In other words, the kinetic energy overcomes the strength of cohesion applied by surface tension. Evaporation occurs thus faster at high temperature.
Evaporative cooling means any phenomenon which starts from the principle that, at the moment the molecules which gain more energy begin to evaporate, the temperature of the liquid drop (because there are still molecules having less kinetic energy).
Evaporation is an important process in the water (called also hydrological) cycle. When the sun warms the surface of a body of water, the liquid evaporates and turns into a cloud. Precipitation (dew, rain, snow), the water returns to the basin and completes the cycle. Of course, there are other atmospheric conditions that have impact on this type of process, such as the presence of wind.