medium · Enhanced ACT science
An experiment measured the boiling point of water at different altitudes: 100^circC at 0m, 97^circC at 900m, and 93^circC at 2100m. The student concludes that boiling point is perfectly linear with altitude.
Why is this conclusion premature?
- The experiment did not use distilled water, and impurities in tap water can raise the boiling point through a process called elevation.
- The atmospheric pressure was not held constant, which is a required condition for determining the boiling point of any liquid substance.
- The student only measured three data points, which is insufficient to determine if the relationship is linear or follows a curve.
- The boiling point of water is 212^circF, so the student's use of the Celsius scale introduced a systematic rounding error into the data.
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