Can water boil past 100 degrees Celsius?

Answer 1

Yes it can. Depending on the other conditions such as pressure, the water will be in differing states. For example, water will boil at 100 deg C and become a gas, the vapor can then be superheated to temperatures above 100 deg C at a standard pressure of 1 ATM.

Water kept in a sealed container under pressure can become superheated liquid, mainly due to the pressure within the container that keeps the liquid-vapor equilibrium such that the liquid is maintained at temps above 100 deg C.

Water can also superheat if there is a lack of nucleation sites such as bubbles from which boiling can occur. In this case the pressure not need be greater than 1 ATM to occur.

Over the superheated temperature range the extensive hydrogen bonds break down, changing the properties more than usually expected by increasing temperature alone. Water effectively becomes less polar and behaves more like an organic solvent such as methanol or ethanol. Solubility of organic materials and gases increases by several orders of magnitude and the water itself can act as a solvent, reagent and catalyst in industrial and analytical applications, including extraction, chemical reactions and cleaning. Viscosity and surface tension of water drop and diffusivity increases with increasing temperature. Self-ionization of water increases with temperature, and the pKw of water at 250 deg C is closer to 11 than the more familiar 14 at 25 deg C. This means that the concentration of hydronium ion (H3O+) is higher, and hence the pH is lower (although the level of hydroxide (OH-) is increased by the same amount so the water is still neutral). Specific heat capacity at constant pressure also increases with temperature, from 4.187 kJ/kg at 25 deg C to 8.138 kJ/kg at 350 deg C. The dielectric constant (relative permittivity) decreases significantly as the temperature rises, which has a significant effect on the behavior of water at high temperatures.

Answer 2

If you mean "can it exist in a liquid state", then yes.

Higher pressure, or the addition of a nonvolatile solute such as sugar or salt will raise the boiling point, allowing water to remain liquid above 100 degreees Celsius.

Answer 3

yes