Final answer:
Vapor pressure does not depend on surface area because it is an intrinsic property of the liquid, relying only on the temperature and molecular characteristics. Surface area does not influence the equilibrium vapor pressure as long as enough liquid is present to establish equilibrium with the vapor phase.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks why vapor pressure does not depend on surface area. Vapor pressure is the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases at a given temperature. When a liquid is introduced into a chamber with no vapor initially present, some molecules will evaporate, creating a pressure in the container.
As long as the temperature is constant and there is some liquid in equilibrium with the vapor, the vapor pressure will not change with surface area. Rather, it depends significantly on temperature and the intermolecular forces of the liquid.
Increasing the temperature increases the fraction of molecules with enough kinetic energy to overcome intermolecular forces and escape from the liquid into the vapor phase. This relationship between vapor pressure and temperature can be linearized with the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, which can also be used to calculate the enthalpy of vaporization from vapor pressure data at various temperatures.
Surface area does not alter the vapor pressure as the equilibrium vapor pressure is an intrinsic property of the liquid, and thus does not change with the amount of liquid present or the container's size as long as there is enough liquid to establish equilibrium with the vapor phase.