Submitted by takeonme02 t3_yi7s8e in explainlikeimfive
Carthax12 t1_iuhfof7 wrote
Evaporation, in ELI5 terms, is simply a molecule of water getting so excited that it literally jumps out of the container in which it is stored.
A puddle of water contains a bunch of water molecules which are all bouncing against each other and their container, but they don't have the energy needed to actually bounce out of the container. Then a (relatively) warm room or a little bit of sunlight provides some extra energy, and a molecule gains the extra energy needed to leap out of the puddle and into the air.
This can happen at any temperature above O C.
At temperatures below 0 C, as described in other posts, water molecules can skip the liquid phase and go straight from ice to vapor in a process called sublimation.
It all boils down (pun absolutely intended) to energy input.
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