Why does the boiling point of liquids decrease with decreasing pressure?
In: Chemistry
When liquids boil, they get enough energy to overcome the natural cohesion forces that hold similar elements together (thus you get a bunch of spread out, individual modules, a gas, instead of them loosely bound together, a liquid).
In order to fly off on their own, they not only need to overcome their intrinsic cohesive forces, but also any external forces. Doesn’t matter if you have enough energy to go gas if you don’t have enough energy to actually get away.
Basically, a molecule needs enough energy to do both to successfully escape. The higher the atmospheric pressure, the more energy needed to escape off of the liquid.
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