The Change in Temperature of

Water During Boiling

Chris Campbell, Jake Boucher, Lindsay

McNeice, and Brendan McQueeney

Performed October 1st, 2010

Submitted October 14th, 2010

Introduction

The question this lab report responds to is:

What happens to the temperature of water after it has started to boil, while it continues to boil?

Our hypothesis is:

If the change of temperature is related to boiling water, then as water boils the temperature will

continue rising.

We already know that at sea level, water boils at exactly 100 degrees Celsius and that

water continues to boil until all the liquid has changed to gas.

Materials

The materials used in this experiment were:

(3) 100 ml Beakers

(3) 40 ml of Non-Potable Tap Water

(3) Ring Stands and (3) Rings

(3) Wire gauzes

(3) Finger Clamps

(3) Bunsen Burners

(1) Striker

(3) Thermometers
Method

First of all, we set up our 3 identical test systems. For each system, we put a Bunsen

burner on the lab bench next to a ring stand, then above fastened a ring at horizontally about 5

cm away. Then we placed one wire gauze square on the ring, and above fastened a finger clamp

to the stand, close enough so that a thermometer could touch the wire gauze. We repeated these 3

times to set up our individual identical systems. Next, we filled up 3-100ml beakers with 40 ml

of non-potable tap water each and placing them on each of the wire gauze ring stands. After

completing that, we placed a thermometer in each beaker, being careful not to touch the sides of

the beaker, as that will give false readings from the thermometer. We then turned the gas supply

on and lit the flame of the burners with the striker, making sure the flame touched the top of the

wire gauze.

While the water heated up, we kept a close eye on the temperature and as soon as the

temperature reached 100 degrees, we started recording the temperature at 30 second intervals.

Remembering to record the temperature, we continued to watch until all 3 beakers had stopped

changing in temperature.

After turning off the Bunsen burners and waiting for the water to cool down, we took the

thermometers out and then carefully poured out the water. Extra caution was taken with the

rings, as the Bunsen burner had heated them to extreme levels. The rest of the equipment was

then put back in their respective places.

Results

During the experiment, we observed the typical changes seen during the boiling of water.

Condensation appeared once heating begun then soon disappeared and then the water started

boiling, with steam rising from the surface. Nothing out of the ordinary was observed during the

experiment.

We recorded the data in a graph, data taken every 30 seconds, with one graph for each system.

System #1:

Time After Boiling Temperature (Celsius)

0 Minutes 100.00
½ Minute 101.00
1 Minute 101.00
1 ½ Minutes 101.00
2 Minutes 101.00
2 ½ Minutes 101.20
3 Minutes 101.50
3 ½ Minutes 101.50
4 Minutes 101.50
4 ½ Minutes 101.50
5 Minutes 101.75
5 ½ Minutes 101.75
6 Minutes 102.00
6 ½ Minutes 102.00
7 Minutes 102.00
System #2:
Time After Boiling Temperature (Celsius)
0 Minutes 100.0
½ Minute 100.0
1 Minute 100.0
1 ½ Minutes 101.5
2 Minutes 101.0
2 ½ Minutes 101.0
3 Minutes 101.5
3 ½ Minutes 102.0
4 Minutes 102.0
4 ½ Minutes 102.0
5 Minutes 102.5
5 ½ Minutes 102.5
6 Minutes 102.0
6 ½ Minutes 102.5
7 Minutes 102.5

System #3:
Time After Boiling Temperature (Celsius)
0 Minutes 100.0
½ Minute 103.0
1 Minute 102.0
1 ½ Minutes 102.0
2 Minutes 102.0
2 ½ Minutes 101.0
3 Minutes 101.0
3 ½ Minutes 101.0
4 Minutes 101.0
4 ½ Minutes 100.0
5 Minutes 100.5
5 ½ Minutes 101.3
6 Minutes 101.4
6 ½ Minutes 101.2
7 Minutes 101.0
We then organized all 3 data tables into a graph:

The Change of Temperature in Boiling Water

103.5

103

102.5

102

101.5

101
System #1
100.5
System #2
100 System #3

99.5

99

98.5
e e
ut nut nut
e es es ute es es es es es es es es es
in i i nut nut in n ut nut nut nut nut nut nut nut nut
M M M i i M i i i i i i i i i
0 2 1 M M M M M M M M M M M
1/ /2 2 1 /2 3 /2 4 /2 5 /2 6 /2 7
1 2 1 1 1 1
1 3 4 5 6

Figure 1

Analysis

Once the data is put into a table, Figure 1, it is evident that the change in temperature

during boiling does not follow a pattern. It appears that the temperature rises and falls, and all 3

systems displayed the fluctuations. Systems 1 and 2 both rose, but System 3 rose then fell and

then stopped at only a 1 degree Celsius total rise. System 1 had a total rise of 2 degrees Celsius,

while system 3 had a total rise of 2.5 degrees Celsius.

The fact a notable pattern was unable to be seen demonstrates that during boiling, water does

change in temperature, but not in a constant fashion.

Conclusion

Concluding, there is a change of temperature in water while it is boiling. This supports

our hypothesis, although there is no specific pattern as in if the temperature goes up or down

during boiling. The fact all 3 of the tests showed a change in temperature, 2 of them going up

and 1 of them going down, demonstrates the findings. No pattern suggests that a variety of

factors are stopping a regular rise or fall in temperature, such as room temperature, heat source

temperature, and the type of water used.

There were various sources of error in the experiment. One source of error was possible

incorrect reading of the amount of water in the beakers, possibly leading to it taking longer for a

change in temperature and therefore not showing any change in temperature over the 30 second

intervals. This could have been eliminated by using a more precise way of measuring the

volume, rather than by measuring the meniscus by eye. A second source was the Bunsen

burners’ maybe being at different distances from the beaker, which could have led to more heat

being applied to the beaker, resulting in more rapid and larger temperature changes. A third

source of error might have been the water in the beaker. Since the water was tap water, minerals

and chemicals might change the characteristic of the water, and this would have resulted in the

water changing temperature in a way pure H20 would not have.

This experiment taught us how to set up our own experiment procedure, how to carry out

a lab without instructions, and how to write a lab report.