evaporation

/ɪvæpəˈreɪʃɪn/

/ɪvæpəˈreɪʃən/

Other forms: evaporations

Evaporation takes place when liquid turns into gas. Ever noticed how water disappears from a glass if you leave it sitting on your counter? That's not thirsty gnomes living in your kitchen: it’s evaporation.

Evaporation comes from the Latin evaporare, which means “disperse in vapor or steam.” Depending on the humidity level of the air around it, any liquid will release some of its molecules into the atmosphere around it. That’s evaporation. With time, the liquid can fully evaporate. That's why evaporation can apply to anything that disappears, like the evaporation of your money that leaves you with nothing but an empty wallet.

Definitions of evaporation

1. noun

   the process of becoming a vapor
   synonyms: vapor, vaporisation, vaporization, vapour

   types:

   boiling

   the application of heat to change something from a liquid to a gas

   clouding, clouding up

   the process whereby water particles become visible in the sky

   smoke, smoking

   a hot vapor containing fine particles of carbon being produced by combustion

   decoction mashing, decoction process

   (brewing) a process in which part of the mash is removed and boiled and then returned

   type of:

   phase change, phase transition, physical change, state change

   a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition
2. noun

   the process of extracting moisture
   synonyms: dehydration, desiccation, drying up

   types:

   freeze-drying, lyophilisation, lyophilization

   a method of drying food or blood plasma or pharmaceuticals or tissue without destroying their physical structure; material is frozen and then warmed in a vacuum so that the ice sublimes

   inspissation

   the process of thickening by dehydration

   type of:

   extraction

   the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound by chemical or physical or mechanical means