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VaporPressure

SaturatedVaporPressure
Index
Theprocessofevaporationinaclosedcontainerwillproceeduntilthere
areasmanymoleculesreturningtotheliquidasthereareescaping.Atthis
pointthevaporissaidtobesaturated,andthepressureofthatvapor
(usuallyexpressedinmmHg)iscalledthesaturatedvaporpressure.
Kinetic
Sincethemolecularkineticenergyis
theory
greaterathighertemperature,more
concepts
moleculescanescapethesurfaceandthe
saturatedvaporpressureis
Applications
correspondinglyhigher.Iftheliquidis
ofkinetic
opentotheair,thenthevaporpressureis
theory
seenasapartialpressurealongwiththe
otherconstituentsoftheair.The
Vapor
temperatureatwhichthevaporpressureis
application
equaltotheatmosphericpressureiscalled
concepts
theboilingpoint.
Tableforwater Graphforwater

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Evaporation
Ordinaryevaporationisasurfacephenomenonsomemoleculeshave
enoughkineticenergytoescape.Ifthecontainerisclosed,anequilibriumis
reachedwhereanequalnumberofmoleculesreturntothesurface.The
pressureofthisequilibriumiscalledthesaturationvaporpressure.
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Kinetic
theory
concepts
Applications
ofkinetic
theory

Inordertoevaporate,amassofwatermustcollectthelargeheatof
vaporization,soevaporationisapotentcoolingmechanism.Evaporation
heatlossisamajorclimaticfactorandiscrucialinthecoolingofthe
humanbody.
Saturationvaporpressure Differencebetweenevaporationandboiling

Vapor
application
concepts

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EvaporationvsBoiling
Ordinaryevaporationisasurfacephenomenonsincethevaporpressureislow
andsincethepressureinsidetheliquidisequaltoatmosphericpressureplusthe
liquidpressure,bubblesofwatervaporcannotform.Butattheboilingpoint,
thesaturatedvaporpressureisequaltoatmosphericpressure,bubblesform,
andthevaporizationbecomesavolumephenomena.

Index
Kinetic
theory
concepts
Applications

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ofkinetic
theory
Vapor
application
concepts

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BoilingPoint
Theboilingpointisdefinedas
thetemperatureatwhichthe
saturatedvaporpressureofa
liquidisequaltothe
surroundingatmospheric
pressure.Forwater,thevapor
pressurereachesthestandard
sealevelatmosphericpressure
of760mmHgat100C.Since
thevaporpressureincreases
withtemperature,itfollows
thatforpressuregreaterthan
760mmHg(e.g.,inapressure
cooker),theboilingpointis
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Kinetic
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concepts
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VaporPressure

above100Candforpressure
lessthan760mmHg(e.g.,at
altitudesabovesealevel),the
boilingpointwillbelower
than100C.Aslongasa
vesselofwaterisboilingat
760mmHg,itwillremainat
100Cuntilthephasechange
iscomplete.Rapidlyboiling
waterisnotatahigher
temperaturethanslowly
boilingwater.Thestabilityof
theboilingpointmakesita
convenientcalibration
temperaturefortemperature
scales.

Applications
ofkinetic
theory
Vapor
application
concepts

Attheboilingpoint,
saturatedvaporpressure
equalsatmosphericpressure.

Boilingandevaporation Boilingpointvariationwithpressure
Boilingpointelevationbydissolvedmatter

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BoilingPointVariation
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Thestandardboilingpointforwaterat100Cisforstandardatmospheric
pressure,760mmHg.Itistheexperienceofhighaltitudehikersthatit
takeslongertocookfoodataltitudebecausetheboilingpointofwateris
lower.Ontheotherhand,foodcooksmorequicklyinapressurecooker
becausetheboilingpointiselevated.Raisingorloweringthepressureby
about28mmHgwillchangetheboilingpointby1C.
Althoughthevaporpressurevariationwithtemperatureisanonlinear
one,theboilingpointvariationcanbeapproximatednear100Cbyan
empiricalfitoftheavailabledata.Thiscanprovidethefollowingestimate
oftheboilingpoint:
Forapressureof
mmHg
theboilingpointwillbeapproximately

C.

Forvariationsinatmosphericpressurewithaltitudeaccordingtothe
barometricformula,theboilingpointataheightof
m=
ftabovesealevel(atmos.pressure
mmHg)
wouldbeapproximately
C.

Anyofthedatavaluesabovemaybechanged.The
empiricalcalculationisvalidonlyforafewdegreesabove
andbelowthenormalboilingpoint.

Index

Kinetic
theory
concepts
Applications
ofkinetic
theory
Vapor
application
concepts

Notes:Thiscalculationassumesanairtemperatureof20Candan
averageairmoleculemassof29amu.Theatmosphericpressuredropsoff
alittlefasterwithheightwhentheairiscolder,butthechangeisnotlarge
overtherangeofreasonabledaytimetemperatures.Ifyouputinpressures
aboveatmosphericpressure,yougetreasonableboilingpointvaluesso
longasyouarewithinafewdegreesofnormal,butthenegativealtitude
valuesyougetarenotvalid.
Barometricformula
Applicationsofincreased
pressure

Pressure
Cooker

AutoCooling
System

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BoilingPointVariationNear100
C

Index
Kinetic
theory
concepts
Applications
ofkinetic
theory
Vapor
application
concepts
Valuesweretakenfromthesaturatedvaporpressuretableforwaternear
100degreesCelsius.Anempiricalfittothesedatavalueswasmade,and
theformulaobtainedisshownonthediagram.Itcouldbeconsideredto
bereasonablyvalidonlyforafewdegreesaboveandbelow100Csince
thecurveisverynonlinear.
Calculationbasedonthiscurvefit
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