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evaporation The physical process by which a liquid or solid is transformed to the gaseous state. The opposite is condensation. In meteorology, evaporation is usually restricted in use to the change of water vapor from liquid to gas, while sublimation is used for the change from solid to gas as well as from gas to solid. Energy is lost by an evaporation liquid; and when no heat is added externally, the liquid always cools. The heat thus removed is called latent heat of vaporization. See more specific definitions and discussion in ART-13 on humidity.

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