Question

How is water changing state during evaporation and condensation? Does it start as a solid, liquid or gas? What does it become?

Answer 1

It is changing between its liquid and vapor states. Evaporation is what we call the transition from liquid to vapor. Condensation is what we call the transition from vapor to liquid.

Explanation:

The “states” of matter are usually solid, liquid and vapor (or gas). In some particular circumstances we also have unique states like plasmas (fully-ionized homogeneous high-temperature gaseous mixtures). The terms we use to describe a change from one to the other are simply descriptive nouns.

In addition to the liquid/vapor changes discussed, water also can change phase from solid to liquid (melting), liquid to solid (freezing) and a direct change from solid to vapor (sublimation).