27-628: Badwater may refer to: Badwater Basin , Death Valley, California; the lowest elevation point in North America Badwater, California , an unincorporated community located near the basin Badwater Ultramarathon , run between the basin and the slopes of Mount Whitney Badwater crater the lowest point on Mars . Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
54-477: A molecular level, there is no strict boundary between the liquid state and the vapor state. Instead, there is a Knudsen layer , where the phase is undetermined. Because this layer is only a few molecules thick, at a macroscopic scale a clear phase transition interface cannot be seen. Liquids that do not evaporate visibly at a given temperature in a given gas (e.g., cooking oil at room temperature ) have molecules that do not tend to transfer energy to each other in
81-430: A pattern sufficient to frequently give a molecule the heat energy necessary to turn into vapor. However, these liquids are evaporating. It is just that the process is much slower and thus significantly less visible. If evaporation takes place in an enclosed area, the escaping molecules accumulate as a vapor above the liquid. Many of the molecules return to the liquid, with returning molecules becoming more frequent as
108-423: A small proportion of the molecules meet these criteria, the rate of evaporation is low. Since the kinetic energy of a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds more quickly at higher temperatures. As the faster-moving molecules escape, the remaining molecules have lower average kinetic energy, and the temperature of the liquid decreases. This phenomenon is also called evaporative cooling . This
135-636: Is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park , Death Valley , Inyo County, California , noted as the lowest point in North America and the United States , with a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level . Mount Whitney , the highest point in the contiguous United States , is only 84.6 miles (136 km) to the northwest. The site itself consists of a small spring -fed pool of "bad water" next to
162-444: Is an extremely rare event', the mechanism for the evaporation of water is not completely understood. Theoretical calculations require prohibitively long and large computer simulations. 'The rate of evaporation of liquid water is one of the principal uncertainties in modern climate modeling.' Evaporation is an endothermic process , since heat is absorbed during evaporation. Fuel droplets vaporize as they receive heat by mixing with
189-436: Is why evaporating sweat cools the human body. Evaporation also tends to proceed more quickly with higher flow rates between the gaseous and liquid phase and in liquids with higher vapor pressure . For example, laundry on a clothes line will dry (by evaporation) more rapidly on a windy day than on a still day. Three key parts to evaporation are heat, atmospheric pressure (determines the percent humidity), and air movement. On
216-462: The Clausius–Clapeyron relation : where P 1 , P 2 are the vapor pressures at temperatures T 1 , T 2 respectively, Δ H vap is the enthalpy of vaporization , and R is the universal gas constant . The rate of evaporation in an open system is related to the vapor pressure found in a closed system. If a liquid is heated, when the vapor pressure reaches the ambient pressure
243-409: The density and pressure of the vapor increases. When the process of escape and return reaches an equilibrium , the vapor is said to be "saturated", and no further change in either vapor pressure and density or liquid temperature will occur. For a system consisting of vapor and liquid of a pure substance, this equilibrium state is directly related to the vapor pressure of the substance, as given by
270-474: The 1.9 in (48 mm) of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in (3,800 mm) annual evaporation rate and usually lakes are only a couple inches deep. This is the greatest evaporation potential in the United States, meaning that a 12 ft (3.8 m) lake could dry up in a single year. When the basin is flooded, some of the salt is dissolved; it is redeposited as clean crystals when
297-560: The US, the National Weather Service measures, at various outdoor locations nationwide, the actual rate of evaporation from a standardized "pan" open water surface. Others do likewise around the world. The US data is collected and compiled into an annual evaporation map. The measurements range from under 30 to over 120 inches (3,000 mm) per year. Because it typically takes place in a complex environment, where 'evaporation
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#1732772015077324-423: The area, with an intertwined history of various larger bodies of water subsuming smaller ones during water table maxima and the subsequent splitting and disappearance thereof during the evaporative part of the cycles. Although these local cycles are now somewhat modified by human presence, their legacy persists; despite appearances much to the contrary, Death Valley actually sits atop one of the largest aquifers in
351-417: The energy removed from the vaporized liquid will reduce the temperature of the liquid, resulting in evaporative cooling. On average, only a fraction of the molecules in a liquid have enough heat energy to escape from the liquid. The evaporation will continue until an equilibrium is reached when the evaporation of the liquid is equal to its condensation. In an enclosed environment, a liquid will evaporate until
378-423: The evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidity affects rate of evaporation of water. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other based on how they collide. When a molecule near the surface absorbs enough energy to overcome the vapor pressure , it will escape and enter the surrounding air as a gas. When evaporation occurs,
405-446: The hot gases in the combustion chamber. Heat (energy) can also be received by radiation from any hot refractory wall of the combustion chamber. Internal combustion engines rely upon the vaporization of the fuel in the cylinders to form a fuel/air mixture in order to burn well. The chemically correct air/fuel mixture for total burning of gasoline has been determined to be 15 parts air to one part gasoline or 15/1 by weight. Changing this to
432-404: The liquid is exposed, allowing molecules to escape and form water vapor; this vapor can then rise up and form clouds. With sufficient energy, the liquid will turn into vapor. For molecules of a liquid to evaporate, they must be located near the surface, they have to be moving in the proper direction, and have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome liquid-phase intermolecular forces . When only
459-441: The liquid will boil . The ability for a molecule of a liquid to evaporate is based largely on the amount of kinetic energy an individual particle may possess. Even at lower temperatures, individual molecules of a liquid can evaporate if they have more than the minimum amount of kinetic energy required for vaporization. Note: Air is used here as a common example of the surrounding gas; however, other gases may hold that role. In
486-421: The lowest parts of Death Valley's floor. Salts (95% table salt – NaCl ) began to crystallize, coating the surface with the thick crust, ranging from 3 to 60 in (8 to 152 cm), now observable at the basin floor. Notes Further reading Evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. A high concentration of
513-658: The progressive depositing of alluvial plains and deltas by the Colorado River, as can also be seen in the case of the Salton Sea . These alternate with periodic water body breakthroughs and rearrangements due to erosion and the proximity of the San Andreas Fault . This process has resulted in a high number of evaporating and reforming endorheic lakes throughout the Quaternary Period in
540-459: The road in a sink ; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. The pool does have animal and plant life , including pickleweed , aquatic insects , and the Badwater snail . Badwater Crater , the lowest place on the planet Mars , is named after the basin due to their similarities. Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at
567-585: The sign marking the low point is at the pool instead. The basin was considered the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere until the discovery of Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −344 ft (−105 m). At Badwater Basin, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water, forming a temporary lake known as Lake Manly . Newly formed lakes do not last long though, because
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#1732772015077594-495: The southwest (and bordered by various uplifts and mountains around the west-northwest-northern perimeters) has seen numerous cycles since at least the start of the Pleistocene (and perhaps up to 3 Ma ). In these cycles, pluvial lakes of varying size have come and gone in a complex cycle, mainly tied to changing climate patterns (particularly, glaciation during the numerous recent Ice Age cycles ), but also influenced by
621-418: The surface, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal shapes. The pool is not the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point (which is only slightly lower) is several miles to the west and varies in position, depending on rainfall and evaporation patterns. The salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so
648-409: The surrounding air is saturated. Evaporation is an essential part of the water cycle . The sun (solar energy) drives evaporation of water from oceans , lakes, moisture in the soil, and other sources of water. In hydrology , evaporation and transpiration (which involves evaporation within plant stomata ) are collectively termed evapotranspiration . Evaporation of water occurs when the surface of
675-526: The title Badwater . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Badwater&oldid=1204312948 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Badwater Basin Badwater Basin
702-535: The water evaporates. A popular site for tourists is the sign marking "sea level" on the cliff above the Badwater Basin. Similar to Owens Lake , it is characterized by a deep bed of unconsolidated valley fill from which the salt crust emerges. The current best understanding of the area's geological history is that the entire region between the Colorado River in the east and Baja California in
729-607: The world. Throughout the Quaternary's wetter spans, streams running from nearby mountains filled Death Valley, creating Lake Manly , which during its greatest extents was approximately 80 mi (130 km) long and up to 600 ft (180 m) deep. Numerous evaporation cycles and a lack of outflow caused an increasing hypersalinity , typical for endorheic bodies of water. Over time, this hypersalinization, combined with sporadic rainfall and occasional aquifer intrusion, has resulted in periods of "briny soup", or salty pools, on
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