Celsius - Melting and Boiling Points of Water

Melting and Boiling Points of Water

One effect of defining the Celsius scale at the triple point of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW, 273.16 K and 0.01 °C), and at absolute zero (0 K and −273.15 °C), is that neither the melting nor boiling point of water under one standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa) remain defining points for the Celsius scale. In 1948 when the 9th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in Resolution 3 first considered using the triple point of water as a defining point, the triple point was so close to being 0.01 °C greater than water's known melting point, it was simply defined as precisely 0.01 °C. However, current measurements show that the difference between the triple and melting points of VSMOW is actually very slightly (<0.001 °C) greater than 0.01 °C. Thus, the actual melting point of ice is very slightly (less than a thousandth of a degree) below 0 °C. Also, defining water's triple point at 273.16 K precisely defined the magnitude of each 1 °C increment in terms of the absolute thermodynamic temperature scale (referencing absolute zero). Now decoupled from the actual boiling point of water, the value "100 °C" is hotter than 0 °C—in absolute terms—by a factor of precisely (approximately 36.61% thermodynamically hotter). When adhering strictly to the two-point definition for calibration, the boiling point of VSMOW under one standard atmosphere of pressure is actually 373.1339 K (99.9839 °C). When calibrated to ITS-90 (a calibration standard comprising many definition points and commonly used for high-precision instrumentation), the boiling point of VSMOW is slightly less, about 99.974 °C.

This boiling-point difference of 16.1 millikelvin between the Celsius scale's original definition and the current one (based on absolute zero and the triple point) has little practical meaning in common daily applications because water's boiling point is very sensitive to variations in barometric pressure. For example, an altitude change of only 28 cm (11 in) causes the boiling point to change by one millikelvin.