What happens when you heat water past boiling point?
Heating water above its boiling point without boiling is called superheating. If water is superheated, it can exceed its boiling point without boiling. You may have firsthand experience with the phenomenon, as its fairly common when microwaving water.
What will happen to the water if you continue heating it?
An increase in temperature caused the water molecules to gain energy and move more rapidly, which resulted in water molecules that are farther apart and an increase in water volume. When water is heated, it expands, or increases in volume. When water increases in volume, it becomes less dense.
What causes superheating?
Superheating can occur when an undisturbed container of water is heated in a microwave oven. Superheating is more likely after repeated heating and cooling cycles of an undisturbed container, as when a forgotten coffee cup is re-heated without being removed from a microwave oven.
What affects boiling point of water?
The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding environmental pressure. A liquid in a partial vacuum has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. A liquid at high pressure has a higher boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure.
What is superheating and undercooling?
The water is then said to be in a “superheated” state. Figure 1 The danger of superheating water. Conversely, in an environment lacking “condensation nuclei” which facilitate the solidification process, a liquid would be “supercooled” when its temperature drops below the freezing point without solidifying.
How does water become superheated?
Superheating can occur when an undisturbed container of water is heated in a microwave oven. However, once the water is disturbed, some of it violently flashes to steam, potentially spraying boiling water out of the container.