Temperature indicates energy that can be felt by the senses; and when the energy is more than the sensory nerve system can tolerate, instruments sense it for us.

Energy is motion or potential motion. The biker is full of energy and so is the dynamite stick.

The universe is hell-bent on chaos. One can hypothesize why, and the evidence is all around and expressed in a law of physics known as the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

When you provide space above a liquid, the molecules at the surface jump out and fall back and some jump further and get carried away. This is what we call evaporation or volatilization. The ratio between those that get out and carried away and those that fall back depends on their energy of motion, which we measure as temperature.

The higher the temperature, the further they reach a point of no return. And at a certain temperature all jump out and none falls back…that is boiling.

Volatilization is a range of action that takes place all the way from the state of liquid to the point of boiling. The higher the temperature, the more intense is the volatilization. In that interim state, some of the energy drives the molecules out and away and some of it raises the motion/temperature within the substance.

Boiling is the end point where all the energy put into the substance works solely to drive its molecules out to space, and the liquid stays at the same temperature until the last molecule is gone.

Some substances are inherently jumpier (more volatile) than others. They vaporize into space and move away by their own energy (diffusion) or get carried away by air motion (advection); but the point is that eventually they all get out and away, given a space to expand into.

Air pressure takes part in the act. Pressure constricts motion. Not dissimilar to having the swimming pool all for yourself or sharing it with a hundred other swimmers. Temperature (heat) inserts greater and greater motion to the particles, and the pressure inserts more and more constriction, and when both increase uncontrollably, things explode (also true for civil strife).

Intrusion of toxic vapors into inhabited spaces has gained increasing attention in recent years and the risks to public health are yet to be evaluated on a solid scale. Meanwhile, various methods of estimation of risks get developed and debated. This, in turn, adversely impacts commercial/industrial real estate transactions.

Operating at the level of environmental consultants we seek practical, conservative solutions that can get the transaction going and ensure protection of public health. It is a challenging task that makes life all the more interesting.