Problem #52 Boiling Temperature of Water[Solved]

Answer:

Yes, there are some locations where the boiling temperature of water is higher than 100oC, and others where it is lower than 100oC.

Remember that the boiling temperature of a liquid is the temperature  at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the atmospheric pressure.

On the other side, you know that the atmospheric pressure on a given point on the Earth is the force exerted by a column of atmospheric air on that point. The normal boiling points of different liquids that we find in the tables of data and textbooks are boiling points at Sea level, i.e. altitude 0 m.

If a location point is at higher altitudes, the column of air above that point is shorter than the column of air at Sea level; therefore the atmospheric pressure at that point is lower than at sea level and it will require less vapour pressure for water to boil. In other words, liquids at high altitudes than sea level  boil at a lower temperature than at sea level.

Examples: BP of water at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro(~80.7oC), Mount Everest(68oC)

But if the location is below Sea level, the column of air above it is longer than at sea level, and the atmospheric pressure will be higher.

Example: I read in Google that the Eath's lowest land elevation point is at the Dead Sea shores, located at the border of Israel and Jordan with an altitude of 420 m below sea level; the boiling temperature of water at that location is ~101oC.