Why does the cooking oil have a high boiling point (or smoking point) compared to that of water ?

Question

Considering the fact that water is denser than oil, which means the packing of molecules per unit volume in water should be more, consequently providing it more stability as compared to oil in which there would be fewer big molecules per unit volume. So shouldnt water have a high boiling point in order to break its stable structure?

In: 1

Answer 1

Oil is less dense, but the molecules (C-H chains) are significantly heavier (even just a single CH4 has a molar mass of 18, same as water – oil is typically multiple C atoms long). It takes more energy to get a heavier molecule excited enough to fly around the room than a lighter molecule