What environmental condition determines the actual temperature at which a liquid boils?
Answer
The surrounding atmospheric pressure
Boiling is defined as the point where the vapor pressure equals the surrounding external pressure. Reducing this surrounding pressure, such as at high altitudes, lowers the temperature required for boiling.
Related Questions
What must molecules absorb enough thermal energy to overcome to achieve boiling?Which type of electrostatic attraction is identified as the strongest IMF, leading to exceptionally high melting and boiling points?Hydrogen bonding in neutral molecules specifically requires a hydrogen atom to be directly bonded to which electronegative elements?Which intermolecular force is present in every single molecule, regardless of polarity?How does the size of a nonpolar molecule generally influence the strength of its London Dispersion Forces (LDFs)?When comparing structural isomers with the same molecular mass, why does a linear molecule typically have a higher boiling point than a compact, spherical isomer?What phenomenon causes $ ext{Water}$ ($ ext{H}_2 ext{O}$) to boil at $100 ext{ °C}$ while the heavier $ ext{Hydrogen Sulfide}$ ($ ext{H}_2 ext{S}$) boils at $-60 ext{ °C}$?In the network structure of ice, what is the average maximum number of hydrogen bonds that a single water molecule can form?Which factor drastically affects the melting point ($ ext{MP}$) of isomers but has minimal effect on their boiling point ($ ext{BP}$)?What environmental condition determines the actual temperature at which a liquid boils?When comparing polar molecules with similar molar masses (around $58 ext{ g/mol}$), which property is most crucial in determining the relative order of their boiling points?