Does the color of water affect its evaporation?
The third answer is partially correct. There are actually two radiant effects if the water is exposed to sunlight. Evaporation is not the same as boiling, though, so the solution effect is different. The effect of adding absorbency (by reducing the transparency) will have the greatest effect; increasing the rate of evaporation by increasing the temperature. This is both due to the fact that particles within the water will scatter and internally reflect light (absorbing more energy before the radiant energy passes back out) and because of darker colors being more absorbent to radiant energy. However, boiling point elevation has very little to do with your question unless you are boiling the water. In that case, the color is of no consequence since the energy is not being provided by absorbed solar radiation. In natural conditions, the partial vapor pressure of a water in solution is proportional to the molar fraction of the water in that solution. In other words, the tendency of the wat
