oxygen has a boiling point of: 90.2 °K
hydrogen one of: 20.28 °K
if these substances bind you have H²O with a boiling point of: 373.15°K
is there some kind of formula how you could calculate this (without measuring of course)?
Answer
Dear Jacob,
Good and somewhat obvious question, although you can’t say that oxygen and hydrogen have a boiling point. The boiling points you mention are those of oxygen gas (O2) and hydrogen gas (H2). Hydrogen and oxygen are not “substances”, but “elements”, from which substances are built.
No, there is no formula to predict the boiling point of a substance (such as water), any more than many other chemical and physical properties of substances, from the similar properties of the substances (here hydrogen gas H2 and oxygen gas O2) from which it originated. This can already be sensed from the fact that water can arise in many other ways than the one you suggest. Conversely, many different molecules can be formed from oxygen and hydrogen.
What is possible, however, is to calculate the properties of molecules on the basis of rather complicated (quantum mechanical) theory based on models in which the electronic atom properties are simulated. For water, this can already be done fairly precisely today. These methods currently have limitations when it comes to very large molecules or large collections of molecules and atoms as they are present in liquids or solids, but that is improving.
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dr Serge Hoste
inorganic and physical chemistry, advanced ceramics, superconductors
http://www.ugent.be
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