Boiling Points of Substances: Effects of Pressure and Temperature

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SUMMARY

This discussion centers on the boiling points of various substances and their behavior under different pressures and temperatures. It highlights that most substances exhibit a fluid phase above their critical point pressure, while at lower pressures, they can exist in solid, liquid, or gas phases. Specific examples include quicksilver, which has a triple point pressure of 0.165 mPa and a critical point pressure of 172 MPa, and carbon dioxide, with a triple point pressure of 0.52 MPa and a critical point pressure of 7.3 MPa. The conversation also raises the theoretical question of whether any substances can exist without a boiling point due to the absence of a liquid phase.

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  • Understanding of phase diagrams and critical points
  • Knowledge of thermodynamic principles related to boiling and sublimation
  • Familiarity with specific substances like quicksilver and carbon dioxide
  • Basic grasp of the concepts of triple points and phase transitions
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  • Research the phase diagram of quicksilver and its implications on boiling behavior
  • Explore the thermodynamic properties of carbon dioxide under varying pressures
  • Investigate substances that do not exhibit a liquid phase and their phase behavior
  • Study the theoretical frameworks surrounding critical points and phase transitions
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Chemists, physicists, and materials scientists interested in the thermodynamic properties of substances and their phase behavior under varying conditions.

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If no, which ones do not? If yes, is there a theoretical proof that a counterexample is impossible?

Most substances have a fluid phase which is a single phase at pressures above critical point pressure - but two separate phases at lower pressures. The solid sublimates into a gas at lower pressure, and at higher pressures it melts into a liquid.

Some substances have wide pressure range of boiling. For example quicksilver has a triple point pressure of just 0,165 mPa, at about -39 degrees, yet its critical point pressure is reputed 172 MPa, at +1477 degrees.

Yet other substances have relatively narrow boiling pressure range. Carbon dioxide has triple point pressure of 0,52 MPa, at -57 degrees, but its critical point pressure is 7,3 MPa, at +31 degrees.

Is it fundamentally possible for a substance to not boil at all, under any pressure or temperature, because the solid crystallizes from a single fluid phase under any pressures, such that triple and critical point are nonexistent because "degenerate"?

If yes, what substances are such? If no, what is the theoretical proof if the impossibility of such a substance?
 
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Some solid substances will break apart, sublimate at every pressure or transform into other substances if you heat them - and without a liquid phase, they cannot boil.
A triple point at the critical point... I don't know.

Comparing this list with that one, all listed substances seem to have a triple point below their critical point.
 

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