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The Evaporation Race

Decent Essays

Leanna Lim
Mrs. Stout
P1 1/20/16
The Evaporation Race

When it rains, puddles of water are often left behind, but it starts to disappear after just a few hours. What is happening? This is called evaporation. Evaporation is a very common natural process that occurs all around the world, where a liquid changes from a liquid state to a gaseous state. Evaporation occurs when enough heat energy is absorbed by the molecules in a liquid state to the point where it starts to vaporize. Do other liquids react in the same way? The answer is yes, but in this experiment, a heat source will be used to evaporate different liquids. The results will show if certain liquids do, in fact, evaporate faster or slower than others depending on their ingredients.

How do liquids change from a liquid to a gas phase? A liquid is a primary state of matter that has no specific shape. According to chemwiki.ucdavis.edu, "Liquids are more dense and less compressible than gasses. Liquids have a definite volume, independent of the size and shape of their container. The attractive forces are not strong enough, however, to keep neighboring molecules in a fixed position and molecules are free to move past or slide …show more content…

How is the dependent variable, evaporation rate, affected by different liquids? As said on water.usgs.gov, "Heat (energy) is necessary for evaporation to occurs. 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)..." Water's boiling point is a known fact, but other liquids with lower boiling points evaporate faster, and that is what will make the evaporation rate for each liquid vary. If energy is added to a liquid, the molecules will react by vibrating faster and spreading apart, eventually changing the liquid to a gaseous phase. With these facts in mind, one can resume with the topic of this

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