Essential Oil Chemistry

[Joseph Nash]

Why does an essential oil evaporate at low temperatures while most of its constituents have much higher boiling points 

[swansont]

Evaporation in general takes place at a temperature lower than the boiling point. What do you know about the relationship between temperature vs the energy of an individual molecule?

[John Cuthber]

15 hours ago, Joseph Nash said:

Why does an essential oil evaporate at low temperatures while most of its constituents have much higher boiling points 

Why not?

 

Water does the same thing.

[AliceWatson123]

Exposure to light, oxygen, and heat will begin to break the oils down and they can then become skin irritating. Essential oils will evaporate fairly quickly if the bottle is not capped as they are volatile substances, therefore, it is important to replace the cap tightly.