Boiling point

This article is about the boiling point of liquids. For other uses, see Boiling point (disambiguation).
Water boiling at 99.3 °C (210.8 °F) at 215 m (705 ft) elevation

The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid[1][2] and the liquid changes into a vapor.

The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding environmental pressure. A liquid in a partial vacuum, i.e., under a lower pressure, has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. Because of this, water boils at 100°C (or with scientific precision: 99.97 °C (211.95 °F)) under standard pressure at sea level, but at 93.4 °C (200.1 °F) at 1,905 metres (6,250 ft)[3] altitude. For a given pressure, different liquids will boil at different temperatures.

The normal boiling point (also called the atmospheric boiling point or the atmospheric pressure boiling point) of a liquid is the special case in which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the defined atmospheric pressure at sea level, one atmosphere.[4][5] At that temperature, the vapor pressure of the liquid becomes sufficient to overcome atmospheric pressure and allow bubbles of vapor to form inside the bulk of the liquid. The standard boiling point has been defined by IUPAC since 1982 as the temperature at which boiling occurs under a pressure of one bar.[6]

The heat of vaporization is the energy required to transform a given quantity (a mol, kg, pound, etc.) of a substance from a liquid into a gas at a given pressure (often atmospheric pressure).

Liquids may change to a vapor at temperatures below their boiling points through the process of evaporation. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon in which molecules located near the liquid's edge, not contained by enough liquid pressure on that side, escape into the surroundings as vapor. On the other hand, boiling is a process in which molecules anywhere in the liquid escape, resulting in the formation of vapor bubbles within the liquid.

  1. ^ Goldberg, David E. (1988). 3,000 Solved Problems in Chemistry (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill. section 17.43, p. 321. ISBN 0-07-023684-4.
  2. ^ Theodore, Louis; Dupont, R. Ryan; Ganesan, Kumar, eds. (1999). Pollution Prevention: The Waste Management Approach to the 21st Century. CRC Press. section 27, p. 15. ISBN 1-56670-495-2.
  3. ^ "Boiling Point of Water and Altitude". www.engineeringtoolbox.com.
  4. ^ General Chemistry Glossary Purdue University website page
  5. ^ Reel, Kevin R.; Fikar, R. M.; Dumas, P. E.; Templin, Jay M. & Van Arnum, Patricia (2006). AP Chemistry (REA) – The Best Test Prep for the Advanced Placement Exam (9th ed.). Research & Education Association. section 71, p. 224. ISBN 0-7386-0221-3.
  6. ^ Cox, J. D. (1982). "Notation for states and processes, significance of the word standard in chemical thermodynamics, and remarks on commonly tabulated forms of thermodynamic functions". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 54 (6): 1239–1250. doi:10.1351/pac198254061239.