Start equally
Each settings change refills both dishes with 24 water units.
Evaporation Race
Compare how surface area, airflow and humidity affect illustrative evaporation rates.
Grades 3–5 · Chemistry
Your goal
Test a dish with surface area 1, airflow 0 and humidity 0. Advance one or more time steps and compare it with the reference dish.
Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.
After 0 model steps your dish has 24 water units left and 0 in the air. The reference has 24 left. Your initial rate is 2 units per step; the reference rate is 2. The rates match.
Both dishes start with 24 water units at the same temperature. Changing a setting refills them. Humidity levels run from 0 dry to 2 humid; these are illustrative levels, not percentages. Rates are a simple comparison rule, not weather forecasts. Water vapor dots are enlarged symbols; real water vapor is invisible.
Related resources
Related simulations
Related infographics
Common mistakes to avoid
Learn with Evaporation Race
Set the exposed surface area, airflow, and humidity around a water dish, then advance time alongside a reference dish. Evaporation Race helps elementary learners compare the conditions that influence liquid water changing into vapor. Both dishes begin with the same amount of water, and changing a setting refills both samples for another fair comparison. Students read the remaining water and vapor counters rather than guessing from dish shape alone. The activity uses simple illustrative rates, giving children evidence for explanations without presenting a weather forecast.
What to look for
Change one factor
Hold two settings fixed while testing the third.
Track the vapor
Water lost from a dish becomes water vapor in the surrounding air.
For teachers and curious learners
Conduct equal-start comparisons of liquid water becoming vapor. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.
The illustrative rate is surface area times an airflow factor times a dryness factor. Both dishes start with 24 units at one temperature. Humidity levels are categories rather than percentages; vapor symbols are enlarged.