The
mist above the boiling water is something we can see. This
means it is not water in the gas state. The mist is lots of
little droplets of water, and each droplet is a sample of
water in the liquid state.
There is water in the gas state just above the surface, but
the mist is cooler than this. The particles become less energetic
so the holding power of the particles can hold them together
again to give the liquid state.
This happens in lots of places at once,
so we get lots of little droplets rather than one big drop.
