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
There isn’t a correlation with energy. The water will boil at a lower temperature. Simplified it’s just that the air pressure that’s lower isn’t pushing as hard on the molecules, allowing them to shift phase and break the bond in the liquid easier.
If you put a cup of water in a vacuum chamber you’ll see it boil quite quickly when the pressure drops. The liquid itself will even cool down as more water evaporates. Basically the same mechanism an airconditioner used too cool.
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