Been wondering, how does water really dry?

Question

you put the fan on or something but what happens to the water? is it something to do the hydrogen bonds or something?

Answer 1

You are slightly right.

Every liquid requires a particular amount of heat to get converted to the vapour state, which we call as Latent heat of Vaporisation. When this heat is supplied by the surroundings, the liquid vapourises at a particular temperature, after which the liquid vanishes. Same thing happens with water. When some water is spilled on a table, it dries up after sometime, the place where the water was present becomes cold, proving that the latent heat for vaporisation has been supplied by the table. This principle is used in cases where a piece of cloth soaked in water is applied on the forehead of a patient with high temperature and fever.

In the liquid state, the water molecules (not all) are connected to each other by inter-molecular hydrogen bonds, which form between the oxygen atom of one water molecule and the hyderogen atom of another water molecule. This bond can be broken by heat. So, when heat is supplied from the surroundings, the inter-molecular hydrogen bonds break, setting the water molecules free and thereby, increasing their mobility and kinetic energy. The water molecules move farther apart and the entire mass of water gets converted in vapour.

It is noteworthy that in the solid state(ice) the intermolecular hydrogen bond is very extensive, binding a large number of water molecules together, which makes the solid. When heat is supplied, some of these bonds break and the ice becomes water.

Hope your doubt has been cleared to a certain extent.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The water evaporates. It just changes to a gas like when you boil water it changes to a gas. That's what happens when water dries. There's water vapor in the air around you.