How does water boil?

Everything Water

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by Kate Simmons >> more about the author

We can’t survive without water. We drink it, bathe in it, cook with it, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Water can exist in three forms, or states: solid (ice), liquid (the water you drink and swim in) and gas (water vapor). In fact, of all the substances on Earth, water is the only one that can occur naturally in all three of these states!

Have you ever been in the kitchen when a grown-up was boiling water in a pot on the stove? Perhaps you’ve noticed the steam rising from the pot. How does water boil?! Water is made up of tiny pieces called atoms. Water contains both hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms. These atoms join together to form molecules—water molecules. Heat affects how quickly these molecules move around. The hotter they get, the more they move!

When the water molecules move quickly enough, they escape from the liquid into the air, where they are in gas form. The water has changed from liquid to a gas called water vapor! Water vapor is the steam you see rising from that pot on the stove, or lifting from your bath or shower water.

Water boils when it reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Water at a high altitude (for example, in a town in the mountains) doesn’t have to get as hot in order to boil. In fact, water doesn’t have to boil in order to turn from a liquid to a gas! For example, water at the surface of a lake can evaporate, or change to water vapor when heated by the sun!