Cindy Lin - Report

The effect of salt on the boiling point of water

Aim: To investigate the effect of salt on the boiling point of water.
Hypothesis: The addition of salt increases the boiling temperature of water.
Equipment:
-Electronic balance
-Medium size beakers
-Wooden tongs
-Heating equipment (Bunsen burner, gauze mat, heat mat,
tripod)
-Matches
-Measuring cylinder

-Watch glass
-Safety glasses
-Gloves
-Salt
-Stirring rod
-Digital thermometer
-Tap water

Risk Assessment:
Risk
Hot water spray may harm and sting
eyes
Hot equipment and hot water spray and
spill may result in severe burns

Cuts can be obtained from chipped

glassware and rough edges of gauze
mat

Safety Measures
Safety glasses are worn so hot water
spray could not come into direct
contact with eyes
-Wooden tongs and gloves are used to
handle hot equipment, preventing any
direct contact with skin.
-Hot equipment is left to cool before
packing up.
-A medium sized beaker is used to
reduce risks of spillage and spray as it
provides larger capacity than small
beakers
Gloves are used to reduce direct
contact with chipped and rough edges

Method:
*indications of boiling point being reached are rapid bubbling of the solution and a boiling
temperature that remains constant for ten seconds or more

1. 100mL of water was measured out twice in a measuring cylinder and poured into two
identical medium-sized beakers. The amount of water used and the size of the beakers
were controlled variables.
2. One of the beakers was heated with the Bunsen burner first until it reached boiling
point.
3. The temperature was recorded using a digital thermometer. This increased the validity
of the experiment, as the boiling point of water was the control of the experiment.
4. 15g of salt were measured in a watch glass on an electronic balance. The amount of
salt used was also a controlled variable.
5. The 15g of salt was added into the unused beaker of 100mL of water and stirred until
it fully dissolved with a stirring rod. The concentration of salt in the water was the
independent variable.
6. The salt water was boiled and the temperature recorded using a digital thermometer.
The boiling point of the salt water is the dependent variable.
7. Two extra repetitions of boiling the salty solution in step 5 were performed. This
increased the reliability of the experiment as three repetitions in total were carried out.
8. The equipment was left to cool for a few minutes before they were packed up as
outlined in the risk assessment.

Cindy Lin - Report

Results:
Amount of Salt (g)

Amount of Water (mL)

Boiling Point (C)

0
15
15
15

100
100
100
100

100.0
103.2
103.3
104.0

15

100

Average: 103.5

Discussion:

In this experiment the beakers with 15g of salt always had a higher boiling temperature than
the beaker with 0g of salt. From the results table, an average of 3.5 degrees Celsius increase
in boiling point temperature was apparent when 15 g of salt was added to water, therefore it
is concluded that the addition of salt increases the boiling temperature of water. The
experiment can be improved by increasing the amount of salt added into the water until
saturation point to reinforce that when the salt concentration in water increases so does the
boiling temperature of the solution.
Boiling point of a substance is largely dependent on the strength of the intermolecular forces
between the molecules of a substance as it determines the amount of energy required to
break these forces and complete a change in state. Water molecules are polar meaning that
they have slightly negative (the oxygen side) and positive (hydrogen side) poles that attract
to each other. The more polar the molecules, the stronger the attraction and the more tightly
the molecules will be held together. These intermolecular forces acting between the
molecules are made even stronger due to the hydrogen bonding of water that requires a lot
of energy to break. Hence, when boiling water, large amounts of energy (heat) is required to
break the bonds and change water from liquid to gas form.
When salt is added and dissolved into water, sodium chloride dissociates into sodium and
chloride ions as the hydrogen cation in the water molecules form new bonds with the chloride
anions and the oxygen anions in water form bonds with the sodium cation. The hydrogen
bonding between water molecules are altered and an ion-dipole interaction occurs. This iondipole interaction is even stronger than the hydrogen bonding between the water molecules,
so more energy is needed to move water away from the ions and into the gas phase, raising
the boiling point of the salty solution. Hence, the addition of salt increases the boiling
temperature of water.
Validity
-Presence of a control, the boiling point of water with no salt was measured first, increasing
validity of the experiment.
-All variables apart from the dependent and independent variable was controlled such as the
amount of water used was 100mL and the experiment was performed on the same day, same
place and around the same time as pressure of the environment changes slightly throughout
the day. This has an impact as boiling point also relies largely on this pressure, as it is the
temperature at which the vapour pressure of the liquid equals the pressure of the
environment.
Accuracy
-Measuring cylinders were used to measure water instead of just reading off the beakers,
readings were recorded by checking the bottom of the meniscus
-Digital thermometers instead of normal thermometers were used for more accuracy,
preventing possibilities of parallax errors from reading the normal glass thermometers
-Electronic balances were used to increase accuracy by giving more precise measurements of
15g of salt

Cindy Lin - Report

-Theoretical results supported the experimental conclusion of the boiling point of water
increasing when salt is added
Reliability
-consistent results were achieved when the experiment was repeated for three times
Hence, the experiment is valid, accurate and reliable.
Conclusion

This experiment supported the hypothesis. Therefore, the addition of salt increases the
boiling point of water.