Difference Between Vaporization and Evaporation

Differences between vaporization and evaporation are here to further understand that these two processes are not exactly the same. Usually, many people tend to be confused about these two processes and many a time these terms are misunderstood.

While they appear to be words with similar meaning, but they have differences.

Vaporization and Evaporation which is a part of vaporization are the processes that are nothing but a phase transition of a substance from a solid or liquid state to gas. They are often used interchangeably but very few actually know the exact difference between them. So to make things clear, here are some of the major differences between evaporation and vaporization.

Vaporization

• Vaporization is defined as the transitional phase of a compound or an element and it occurs during the boiling or sublimation process.
• Vaporization can change the state of matter from a solid or liquid to a gas.
• Vaporization is usually a fast process and requires less amount of energy.
• During vaporization, all of the water can turn into gas.
• When vaporization occurs, molecules could come from below the surface when the liquid is boiling.

Evaporation

• Evaporation is nothing but a type of vaporization which mostly occurs at temperatures below the boiling point.
• During evaporation, the liquid state of matter is turned directly into a gas.
• Evaporation is generally a slower process and requires more energy as the molecules have a high tendency to convert into the vapour phase.
• As for evaporation, only the top level of water is turned into gas.
• During evaporation, the molecules vaporize only from the surface of the liquid.