Faster or slower evaporation

What makes water evaporate faster or slower? Your book tests it.

Area. Put the same amount of water in a small bottle cap and on a plate, side by side. On the plate the water spreads out, so more of it is open to the air. Result: the larger the exposed area, the faster the evaporation: the plate dries first. Tea poured into a saucer cools faster than tea in a cup for the same reason, and clothes shaken out and spread on the line dry faster than clothes left in a heap.

Sunlight. Put equal amounts of water in two identical caps, one in sunlight and one in shade. Result: the water in sunlight evaporates faster. Clothes dry faster on a hot, sunny day.

Wind. Clothes also dry faster on a windy day. With more moving air, water evaporates faster, because the wind carries the water vapour away and makes room for more.

Humidity. The amount of water vapour in the air is called humidity. Rainy days are more humid. When the air already holds a lot of water vapour, water evaporates slowly. That is why clothes take so long to dry on a rainy day.

These are fair tests: in each one, only one condition is changed (the area, or sun and shade), and everything else is kept the same.