EVAPORATION

EVAPORATION
is a process by which an element or compound
transitions from its liquidstate to its gaseous state
below the temperature at which it boils; in particular,
the process by which liquid water enters the
atmosphere as water vapour in the water cycle.
 PHYSICS OF EVAPORATION
In its broadest definition, evaporation is the process by which molecules in a liquid (water)
spontaneously become gaseous (water vapour) and escape the liquid state, while evaporites are the
resultant mineral precipitates accumulating in and around an increasingly saline residual brine that has
reached a state of supersaturation with respect to a particular mineral salt or salts. Water molecules in
the liquid phase are in continuous motion and so will collide. As they collide, they transfer energy to
each other in varying degrees, based on how they collide. Evaporation, then, is a simple matter of
solution kinetics in this milieu of molecular motion and is a response to varying degrees of heat
absorption at the molecular scale.
 FACTORS AFFECTING
EVAPORATION
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Temperature Surface area of theHumidity of the air Wind Speed Intermolecular

liquid Attraction

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Depth of the body whereVapor Pressure Difference Presence of solutes in

Atmospehiric evaporation occurs
Influence of magnetic
field in evaporation
solution
Pressure
 The rate of evaporation is
directly dependent on the area the
TEMPERATURE liquid is exposed to. Let us
take a look at some practical
The rate of evaporation is directly examples. The cloth is usually
dependent spread over the cloth line so
on the temperature it’s exposed to. that it gets exposed to more
The more the temperature, surface area, and that makes the water
the more liquid it’s exposed to. The evaporate.
kinetic energy increases
and the liquid gets converted to vapor
instead. This increases
the rate of evaporation
SURFACE AREA OF
THE LIQUID
 The more the wind blows, the greater
HUMIDITY OF AIR is the
rate of evaporation. Wind increases
the kinetic energy between
Evaporation depends greatly on the the water particles and the rate
water vapor present in the air. The at which the water gets
lesser the water vapor, the evaporated. Take, for example, a
quicker the cloth gets dried. The more windy day better dries your
there is water vapor in clothes as compared to a moist day.
the air, the more time it takes for the
water to get evaporated
and make our clothes dry.

WIND SPEED
 It was noticed that places on earth
where the atmospheric pressure is
INTERMOLECULAR lesser, the process of

ATTRACTION evaporation is more. The kinetic

energy of the particles
increased, and then the change of status
The viscosity of elements or was observed. Thus
compounds often affects the rate the more the atmospheric pressure, the
of evaporation. The lesser is the rate of
molecules of water are loosely bound, evaporation
while that of hydrogen
sulfide is tightly bound

ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE
DEPTH OF THE BODY FROM WHERE
EVAPORATION OCCURS The rate of evaporation clearly
depends on the vapor pressure of the
The water body from where the air or the rate at which
water is evaporated is the the air leaves the surface. The
main factor in how evaporation difference between the vapor
occurs. Thus, if the depth of a pressure of water and the vapor
pond is too much, the rate at pressure of air is the primary
which the water will be factor that affects evaporation.
evaporated will be more.

VAPOR PRESSURE
DIFFERENCE
PRESENCE OF SOLUTES
IN SOLUTION: The influence of the magnetic field
affects the rate of evaporation.
The magnetic field affects the
When salt is present
viscosity of the liquid and increases
inside water, the rate of
water tension. The result is that the
evaporation increases. The simple
rate of evaporation increases.
reason is that the boiling point of salt
is more than the boiling
point of water. As a result, the
concentration of dissolved
solutes will be more than the water
itself
INFLUENCE OF MAGNETIC
FIELD IN EVAPORATION
 MEASUREMENT OF DIFFERENT FACTORS FOR
EVAPORATION
Estimation of evaporation is of utmost importance in
many hydrologic problems associated with planning and
operation of reservoirs and irrigation systems. In arid zones,
this estimation is particularly important to conserve the scarce
water resources. However, the exact measurement of
evaporation from a large body of water is indeed one of the
most difficult tasks.
Evaporation is usually measured by evaporation pans
and atmometers. Evaporation pans are most widely used for
measuring evaporations. It is affected by the size, depth, and
location of the pan
 TYPE OF EVAPORATION PANS

1. 2. 3. 4.

Class A ISI Standard Pan Colorado Sunken US Geological

Evaporation Pan Pan Survey Floating
Pan
 CLASS A Also known as modified class A pan,
consist of a pan 1220 mm in diameter
EVAPORATION PAN with 255 mm of
depth. the pan is made of
copper sheet of 0.9 mm
It is a standard pan of 1210 mm thickness, thinned inside and painted
diameter and 255 mm depth used by white outside. The
the US Weather Bureau. The depth of evaporation at this pan is found to be
the water is maintained between 18 less by about 14% to
cm and 20 cm. The pan is normally that from unscreened pan
made of unpainted
galvanized iron sheet.

ISI STANDARD PAN

 COLORADO
SUNKEN PAN With a view to
stimulate the characteristics of a large
This pan, 920 mm square and 460 body of water, this
mm deep is made up of unpainted square pan (900mm side and 450mm
galvanized iron sheet and buried into depth) supported by
the ground within 100 mm of the top drum floats in the middle of a raft
(4.25m x 4.87mis set
afloat in a lake

US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
FLOATING PAN
Pan Coefficient (Cp) - [Evaporation pans are not exactmodels of large
reservoirs and have the following principaldrawbacks:]1. They differ in the
heat-storing capacity and heat transferfrom the sides and bottom.2. The height of
the rim in an evaporation pan affects the windaction over the surface.3. The
heat transfer characteristics of the pan material isdifferent from that of
the reservoir.
 EXAMPLE MEASUREMENT OF
EVAPORATION
If a lake has a 500- hectare surface area, compute the
daily
lake evaporation for the data given.
Assume the pan coefficient is 0.8. Compute
the 6-day
evaporation and loss of water in kilograms or tons.
 Sol’n:Lake Evaporation = daily pan evaporation x
pancoefficientFor day 1: 1.5 x 0.8 = 1.26-day evaporation = 0.8
(1.5+2.2+0.6+1.2+0.7+1.7) = 6.32 cm6-day loss of water = (6.32cm /
100) x 500 x 10,000 m2 =316,000m3 or 316 x 103 metric tons.
1 hectares = 10,000m2
 ESTIMATING EVAPORATION FROM OPEN
WATER

ESTIMATION OF OPEN WATER EVAPORATION

It is increasingly required for several Environment Agency functions, particularly Water
Resources and Ecology. These
estimates are used mainly for water balance studies to support
appraisals of applications for abstraction licenses, in wetlands
and still waters management. Current methods of estimating
open water evaporation vary between and, in some cases,
within Regions; there is no generally adopted best method.
 WATER BUDGET METHOD OR STORAGE EQUATION

Evaporation E from a reservoir or water body can bedetermined by the following

water budget or storage equation
E = P + I – O + Ou + ΔS
P = the total precipitation
I = total inflow
O = the total outflow
Ou = total underground inflow or outflow “which is positivefor inflow and negative for
outflow”
ΔS = change in storage (+ve for an increase in storage and –vefor decrease in storage
 ENERGY BUDGET METHOD
This method is based on the application “of the law of theconservation of Energy
in the form of heat”. The energybudget equation from enclosed figure may be
written as;
Qi – Qr – Ql – Qc – Qe = Qs – Qa
Qe = Qi – Qr – Ql – Qc – Qs + Qa
Qi = short solar radiation, Qr is reflected part of solar every,
Ql = long wave atmosphere radiation,
Qc = conduction energy in air
Qe = heat energy used in evaporation
Qs = increase is stored energy
Qa = advective energy
 EXAMPLE
A reservoir has average surface area of 20 km2. In the monthof
June, mean rate of inflow is 10 m3/sec, mean outflow is
15m3/sec, rainfall is 10 cm and change of storage is 16
millioncum. Assuming surface losses to be 1.8 cm. Estimate the
Evaporation