isothermal
As with melting, the energy in boiling goes exclusively to changing the phase of a substance; it does not go into changing the temperature of a substance. So boiling is also an isothermal process. Only when all of a substance has boiled does any additional energy go to changing its temperature. What happens when a liquid becomes a gas? We have already established that a liquid is composed of particles in contact with each other. When a liquid becomes a gas, the particles separate from each other, with each particle going its own way in space. This is how gases tend to fill their containers. Indeed, in the gas phase most of the volume is empty space; only about 1/1,000th of the volume is actually taken up by matter Figure 10.4 "Liquids and Gases" . It is this property of gases that explains why they can be compressed, a fact that is considered in Chapter 6 "Gases". Figure 10.4 Liquids and Gases.