I get there’s less and less air pressure the closer you get to sea level, and therefore it requires less energy for water to boil, but how does air pressure correlate to energy? I have a tendency to think about things at the molecular level, and can’t seem to work this one out in my head.
In: Chemistry
The air pressure is constantly pushing down in the surface of the water.
If a water molecule breaks loose of the surface, it evaporates. The air pressure pushing down on the water prevents this from happening so easily.
If you bring the water to a near vacuum, the water will boil off without any heat at all. The temperature the water already has means the water molecules are jiggling around enough to escape the surface of the water on its own because there’s no air pressure to hold it back.
[Phase diagram](https://files.mtstatic.com/site_4334/78506/0?Expires=1722647921&Signature=pHelPE6bi3MGmUciUO64641qSpSl8~scbhojcMJ9O7sMShnSE7jV2ZGZLaTpY04SONVndj3WMwGxcDscI3jkZa~cVbTZNtym9vlnQkCfpBAkIWyVwxHcrk5-8HbhoqPFtIJdMU1-P3jBz3QUfZwpWusl5u2Gxf~fxhTA1aVeSXI_&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJ5Y6AV4GI7A555NA)
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