Question

How do surface area and wind speed affect rate of evaporation ?

Answer 1

• The process by which a liquid is converted into its vapor state is called evaporation.
• The rate of evaporation increases with an increase in temperature.
• Evaporation is used to separate a solid component from a homogeneous mixture of solids and liquids.
• The process of evaporation involves heating the solution until the solvent evaporates and turns into gas leaving behind the solid residue.
• For example, we can separate salt from a mixture of salt and water using evaporation. We heat the solution to a boiling point to obtain salt from salt water.
• As the solution boils, the water escapes as vapor, and after some time all the water evaporates leaving a layer of salt at the bottom of the beaker.
• Evaporation is a surface phenomenon because, during evaporation, the molecules with higher kinetic energy dissipate into the air from the topmost layer of the liquid so it is a surface phenomenon.
• With the increase in surface area, more molecules of the liquid get the opportunity to come to the surface and change into vapors.
• Similarly, with the increase in wind speed, the particles of water vapors present in air move away, and the air which replaces it is comparatively dry. This will increase the rate of evaporation.