Evaporation and boiling both change a liquid into a gas, but they occur differently. Evaporation happens at a liquid’s surface and can occur below its boiling point. Boiling involves vapour bubbles forming within the liquid. Some molecules at the surface have enough energy to escape into the surrounding air. Temperature, exposed area, airflow, and humidity affect the rate of evaporation. During boiling, the liquid’s vapour pressure matches the surrounding pressure; the boiling temperature therefore depends on pressure. A wet cloth can dry without reaching boiling temperature. Spreading it out exposes more surface, while humid air generally slows drying under otherwise similar conditions. Avoid treating a single factor as the whole explanation because several conditions can change together. Practice: Place equal small water drops on two safe washable surfaces with different exposed areas. Observe without heating, and note which conditions you could not keep identical.