system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If water boils (i.e. turns to gas) at 212°F how do things ever get dry at room temperature?
gpt
To start, there is a distinction between temperature and heat. In a given amount of water, the temperature of water is the *average* energy level amongst all of the molecules of water. However, heat is the *quantity* of energy that the amount of water has in total. As an example, the ocean has a lot more heat than a boiling cup of tea, but the cup of tea has a higher temperature. The quantity of heat in the ocean is greater than the tea, but the average temperature in the cup of tea is greater than the ocean.

At room temperature, the average energy levels in the water is not great enough to cause it to evaporate. However, individual water molecules do not all have the same quantity of heat, and some can gain enough energy to evaporate. This amount of energy is then lost from the source of water (evaporative cooling), but it will soon be replaced from the ambient air (at room temperature). Thus, the average temperature will remain constant, but individual water molecules are capable of evaporating if they gain more energy.

This is also why things will dry faster with higher temperature, even below boiling. The average temperature of the water molecules is higher, and a molecule takes less deviation from the average to gain enough energy to evaporate.