What occurs at the boiling point of a liquid?

At the boiling point of a liquid, the temperature is high enough for the liquid phase to transition into the gas phase. This occurs because the molecules within the liquid gain sufficient energy to overcome the attractive forces holding them together, allowing them to escape into the surrounding environment as gas. This process is known as evaporation, but it specifically refers to the rapid change that happens at boiling, where bubbles form within the liquid and rise to the surface.

The other processes, such as freezing and melting, pertain to changes in state involving solid and liquid phases, while condensation refers to the transition from a gas back to a liquid, which occurs when gas cools down. At the boiling point, the focus is on the transition from liquid to gas. Therefore, at this critical temperature, the dominant and characteristic behavior is the evaporation of the liquid.