It IS a confusing issue... I pinched this from another site:
Concentration of the substance evaporating in the air: If the air already has a high concentration of the substance evaporating, then the given substance will evaporate more slowly.
Concentration of other substances in the air: If the air is already saturated with other substances, it can have a lower capacity for the substance evaporating.
Flow rate of air: This is in part related to the concentration points above. If fresh air is moving over the substance all the time, then the concentration of the substance in the air is less likely to go up with time, thus encouraging faster evaporation. This is result of the boundary layer at the evaporation surface decreasing with flow velocity, decreasing the diffusion distance in the stagnant layer.
Concentration of other substances in the liquid(Impurities): If the liquid contains other substances, it will have a lower capacity for evaporation.
Temperature of the substance: If the substance is hotter, then evaporation will be faster.
Inter-molecular forces: The stronger the forces keeping the molecules together in the liquid state the more energy that must be input in order to evaporate them.
Surface Area: A substance which has a larger surface area will evaporate faster as there are more surface molecules which are able to escape.
Heating : The thickness of the object being heated was thick at a time of heating, the heat being delivered for evaporation of the water could be reduced. If there was no thickness, the heat might have been delivered more to the evaporation of the water.
So we can see that there are lots of variables effecting evaporation... only one of them is temperature !
Put a water into a sealed bottle, and you will see condensation on the inside of the bottle above the liquid - this is a reverse action taking place, the gas above the liquid (I hesitate to call it "air" as this will happen with most gasses) will become saturated with water vapour - evaporated away from the liquid - and on contact with a surface cooler than the gas, condenses back into a liquid.
Boiling does accelerate the process, yes... but consider a pot plant, you water it in the morning, and it "dries" out during the day.... its at exactly the same temperature as the room/air surrounding it... so where does the water go ? It cant use all of it in growing !
The fact is that air LIKES water..... it craves it ! it will soak it up like a sponge, until its full - its saturation point.... once this is achieved evaporation will cease, thats why all the liquid in that bottle doesnt "dissapear".
Adding an airflow, however, moves this saturated air away - replacing it with more "dry" air... so adding a fan promotes faster evaporation.
The key to all this is the fact that as water changes state, energy is add or removed... in our case removed, so heat is "lost" from the water.
Started rambling now.... anyone care to clarify this ?
<<<<puts on flamesuit>>>> LOL
