What is the process called when a substance changes from liquid to gas?

The process wherein a substance transitions from a liquid state to a gaseous state is most accurately referred to as vaporization. This term encompasses both evaporation and boiling, though it is primarily used to denote the change that occurs when heating a liquid increases its energy, allowing molecules to escape into the gas phase.

Evaporation specifically describes the process of vaporization occurring at the surface of a liquid at temperatures below its boiling point. This means that while evaporation is a specific form of vaporization, the broader term, vaporization, also includes scenarios where temperature reaches the boiling point, causing the liquid to convert to gas throughout the entire volume of the liquid.

Condensation refers to the opposite process, where gas converts into a liquid, while mitosis, related to cell division in biology, has no relevance to the phase changes of substances. Hence, vaporization is the most encompassing term for the transition from liquid to gas in this context.