Cavitation is a condition can occur in centrifugal pumps when there is a sudden reduction in fluid pressure. Pressure reduction lowers the boiling point of liquids, resulting in the production of vapor bubbles if boiling occurs. This is more likely to happen at the inlet of the pump where pressure is typically lowest. As the vapor bubbles move towards the outlet of the pump where pressure is higher, they rapidly collapse (return to a liquid state) resulting in shock waves that can damage pump components.