tained at constant pressurel filled with pure liquid water. Upon heating it boil

Question

tained at constant pressurel filled with pure liquid water. Upon heating it boils entirely at T-100 °C, after which the piston will have expanded significantly to accommodate the (pure) water vapor. On the other hand, consider liquid water heated on a stove that is exposed to the atmosphere. Upon heating it also boils at 100 °C, even though it is in equilibrium with a vapor phase containing inert species (mainly N2 and O2) during the entire process How can the two cases be similar? You may want to assume that the inert species have negligible solubility in the liquid and that the vapor phase behaves ideally

Explanation / Answer

There really is nothing to be bothered about here, in this question.

The question itself explains "How can the two cases be similar?" with the fact that the inert species have negligible solubility in the liquid.

The lower end of the piston is assumed to not react with the water either. Also, the piston is exerting a constant pressure of 1 atm.

What other similarities to an atmosphere does one need for this boiling experiment?

(So, the question would actually be "What could the possible differences that can occur when trying to boil water at an artificially maintained pressure of 1 atm in a piston?" )

One apparent difference that may trouble you is that the steam in the stove is allowed to move away freely into the atmosphere, but that is not relevant in this problem as what we are concerned is at what point the water boils and that is at 100 deg C at 1 atm pressure.

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