On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Jouni Valkonen <[email protected]>wrote:
> > Good try but you forgot the surface tension. When you boil water in the > kettle then you will get bubbles. Therefore steam can be hotter than actual > boiling point. If you reduce the surface tension or make fine mist like in > your setup, then steam temperature is closer to boiling point. The surface tension is part of the picture either way. The argument stands. If you claim that liquid is providing the temperature regulation, then the steam is not above the boiling point. Daniel calculated the actual boiling point. But thermometers absolute > accuracy is ±0.4°C, although it's relative accuracy is ±0.1°C. > If the absolute accuracy is .4C, then that undermines the argument completely, if it was not calibrated. If the bp in the lab really was 99.9C, and the measured value was 100.1C, then even calibrated, the confidence with which the difference can be regarded as significant is only marginal. If the chimney is filled with water, as you claim, the pressure inside the ecat is increased by about 1 kPa, and this would cause an increase in the bp by 0.3C.
