Question

Say you have water left outside in the form of a puddle or in a container, there will be a certain number of particles that contain sufficient energy to break from their intermolecular bonds and escape into the gas phase to form water vapour. However, what's stopping the water vapour from converting back into a liquid?

Answer 1

Evaporation is the process in which a liquid is converted to its vapor state below the boiling temperature of the liquid. If the water vapor molecules are not able to escape into the surroundings, they condense back into the liquid state.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order for a liquid molecule to escape into the gas state, the molecule must have enough kinetic energy to overcome the intermolecular attractive forces in the liquid. Liquid molecules that have this certain threshold kinetic energy escape the surface and become vapor. As a result, the liquid molecules that remain now have lower kinetic energy. As evaporation occurs, the temperature of the remaining liquid decreases.

When gaseous water is cooled sufficiently, the attractions between H₂O molecules will be capable of holding them together when they come into contact with each other; the gas condenses, forming liquid H₂O. For example, liquid water forms on the outside of a cold glass as the water vapor in the air is cooled by the cold glass.

Evaporation is the process in which a liquid is converted to its vapor state below the boiling temperature of the liquid. If the water vapor molecules are not able to escape into the surroundings, they condense back into the liquid state. Condensation is the change of state from a gas to a liquid.