WGU Task 1 C683
Natural Science
Lab 2024 Version
Complete
, Does adding salt to water make it boil faster?
A. Having a busy life can mean learning new tricks to make
processes move a little faster. Being a full-time employee,
having 2 kids along with all their extracurricular activities, and
being a full-time student there is never enough time in the
day and learning things to “take short cuts” is always in my
favor. One day, I saw my grandma add salt to her water, I
asked her why she was doing that, and she said, “it makes the
water boil faster.” Ever since then I have added salt to my
water when boiling it, but never have I ever actually timed it
to see how much faster it is than just boiling fresh water. So,
this is the perfect time to test this theory. “Why does the
salted water boil more quickly, even though it has a higher
boiling point? It's because adding the salt lowered the heat
capacity of the water. The heat capacity is the amount of
energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. Pure
water has an incredibly high heat capacity. When heating up
salt water, you've got a solution of a solute (salt, which has a
very low heat capacity) in water.” (Helmenstine, Anne Marie,
Ph.D,2023) “Adding salt increases the boiling point, so you
need to get the salt solution hotter to make it boil. However,
for saturated salt solution the specific heat falls by about 22%
while the boiling point only goes up by 8%, so the salt
solution still boils faster even taking into account the
Natural Science
Lab 2024 Version
Complete
, Does adding salt to water make it boil faster?
A. Having a busy life can mean learning new tricks to make
processes move a little faster. Being a full-time employee,
having 2 kids along with all their extracurricular activities, and
being a full-time student there is never enough time in the
day and learning things to “take short cuts” is always in my
favor. One day, I saw my grandma add salt to her water, I
asked her why she was doing that, and she said, “it makes the
water boil faster.” Ever since then I have added salt to my
water when boiling it, but never have I ever actually timed it
to see how much faster it is than just boiling fresh water. So,
this is the perfect time to test this theory. “Why does the
salted water boil more quickly, even though it has a higher
boiling point? It's because adding the salt lowered the heat
capacity of the water. The heat capacity is the amount of
energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. Pure
water has an incredibly high heat capacity. When heating up
salt water, you've got a solution of a solute (salt, which has a
very low heat capacity) in water.” (Helmenstine, Anne Marie,
Ph.D,2023) “Adding salt increases the boiling point, so you
need to get the salt solution hotter to make it boil. However,
for saturated salt solution the specific heat falls by about 22%
while the boiling point only goes up by 8%, so the salt
solution still boils faster even taking into account the
