Energy – How to Accurately Explain Evaporative Cooling

energyevaporation

I am trying to clearly express in one or two sentences how increased evapotranspiration could cool a region. The audience is educated but non-scientific.

Is it accurate to say that the water vapor has removed latent heat? Is there a more clear explanation?

Best Answer

A volume of water contains a gigantic number of molecules, each with different speeds. The ones with faster speeds are the ones that escape the surface boundary forces to evaporate into the air. Thus the remaining ensemble of water molecules has a lower average speed of movement = lower "temperature".

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