What is the boiling point of water?

100 °C (212 °F) at one standard atmosphere. It falls with altitude — about 93 °C at 2,000 m — because boiling occurs when vapour pressure matches the surrounding pressure.

What is the boiling point of copper?

2,562 °C (4,644 °F). Copper is commonly melted for casting but is not boiled in normal foundry work.

Which metal has the highest boiling point?

Tungsten, at 5,555 °C (10,031 °F) — the highest of any metal, and the reason it was the standard incandescent lamp filament. Rhenium and osmium are next.

Does water always boil at 100 degrees?

No. 100 °C applies only at standard atmospheric pressure. At higher altitude it boils cooler, and under pressure it boils hotter — a pressure cooker reaches about 121 °C.

What is the boiling point of ethanol?

78.4 °C (173 °F). It is lower than water, which is the basis of distillation for separating them.

Why does gasoline not have a boiling point?

Gasoline is a mixture of many hydrocarbons, each with its own boiling point. Rather than a single figure it has a distillation range — roughly 30 to 200 °C — over which successive components vaporise.

Boiling Point Chart

Boiling points of common substances and metals, from liquid helium to tungsten — in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Data verified 2026-09-29 · based on n/a — physical property data

Quick Answer

Water boils at 100 °C (212 °F) at standard atmospheric pressure, which is the reference point for the Celsius scale. Metals boil in the thousands of degrees — copper at 2,562 °C, tungsten at 5,555 °C, the highest of any metal. Boiling point falls with decreasing pressure, so water boils below 100 °C at altitude.

Find a substance

Boiling Points at 1 Atmosphere

Substance^[2]	Boiling point °C^[2]	Boiling point °F^[1]	Class^[2]
Helium #	-268.9	Gas	Lowest boiling point of any element
Hydrogen #	-252.9	Gas	Liquid hydrogen storage
Nitrogen #	-195.8	Gas	Cryogenic cooling, LN2
Oxygen #	-183.0	Gas	Industrial and medical
Ammonia #	-33.3	Gas	Refrigeration
R134a #	-26.1	Refrigerant	Common automotive refrigerant
Propane #	-42.1	Gas	LPG fuel
Butane #	-0.5	Gas	LPG fuel
Water #	100.0	Liquid	At 1 atm; the reference point
Ethanol #	78.4	Liquid	Solvent, fuel
Methanol #	64.7	Liquid	Solvent, feedstock
Acetone #	56.1	Liquid	Solvent
Gasoline #	30–200	Liquid	Mixture, wide range
Diesel #	180–360	Liquid	Mixture, wide range
Ethylene glycol #	197.3	Liquid	Antifreeze, heat transfer
Glycerine #	290.0	Liquid	Viscous, high boiling
Mercury #	356.7	Metal	Liquid metal
Sulphur #	444.6	Non-metal	Vulcanisation
Lead #	1749.0	Metal	Casting, solder
Aluminium #	2470.0	Metal	Casting, extrusion
Silver #	2162.0	Metal	Brazing, electrical
Copper #	2562.0	Metal	Electrical, thermal
Iron #	2862.0	Metal	Foundry work
Titanium #	3287.0	Metal	Aerospace, chemical
Tungsten #	5555.0	Metal	Highest of the metals

Values are at one standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa). Boiling point falls as pressure falls — water boils at about 93 °C at 2,000 m elevation. Mixtures such as gasoline and diesel do not have a single boiling point; the ranges shown are distillation ranges.

Boiling Point and Pressure

Boiling is not a fixed property of a substance — it is the temperature at which vapour pressure equals the surrounding pressure. Reduce the pressure and the boiling point falls.

This is not a marginal effect. Water boils at about 93 °C at 2,000 m elevation and at 71 °C at the summit of Everest. In the other direction, a pressure cooker raises the boiling point to around 121 °C, which is why it cooks faster — and why autoclaves use the same principle to sterilise.

The engineering consequence is that a boiling point quoted without a pressure is incomplete. Values in the table are at one standard atmosphere.

Why Metals Boil So High

Metallic bonding is strong and non-directional, and boiling requires breaking every bond in the liquid to free the atoms into the gas phase — far more energy than melting, which only requires disrupting the lattice order.

The pattern across the transition metals follows the strength of that bonding: mercury, with a filled d-shell and weak metallic bonding, boils at only 357 °C, while tungsten, with half-filled d-orbitals and the strongest bonding in the series, reaches 5,555 °C — the highest of any metal and the reason it was used for incandescent filaments.

For machining, the relevant figure is usually not the boiling point but the temperature at which the material loses strength — for most metals that is a small fraction of the way to melting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the boiling point of water?: 100 °C (212 °F) at one standard atmosphere. It falls with altitude — about 93 °C at 2,000 m — because boiling occurs when vapour pressure matches the surrounding pressure.
What is the boiling point of copper?: 2,562 °C (4,644 °F). Copper is commonly melted for casting but is not boiled in normal foundry work.
Which metal has the highest boiling point?: Tungsten, at 5,555 °C (10,031 °F) — the highest of any metal, and the reason it was the standard incandescent lamp filament. Rhenium and osmium are next.
Does water always boil at 100 degrees?: No. 100 °C applies only at standard atmospheric pressure. At higher altitude it boils cooler, and under pressure it boils hotter — a pressure cooker reaches about 121 °C.
What is the boiling point of ethanol?: 78.4 °C (173 °F). It is lower than water, which is the basis of distillation for separating them.
Why does gasoline not have a boiling point?: Gasoline is a mixture of many hydrocarbons, each with its own boiling point. Rather than a single figure it has a distillation range — roughly 30 to 200 °C — over which successive components vaporise.

Value Sources

Each data column on this page is tied to the source it came from. The numbers in square brackets correspond to the table headers above.

#	Source	Type	Revision / method
[1]	Fahrenheit conversion	derived	°F = °C × 9/5 + 32.
[2]	Standard physical chemistry and engineering handbook values	standard	n/a — physical constants, not a revisioned specification — source

Data Sources

Standard	Revision	What it covers on this page
Physical constants compiled from standard references	n/a — physical property data	boiling points at one standard atmosphere

Cross-checked against:

Values cross-checked against NIST and standard handbook references
Fahrenheit column verified at build time against the Celsius column

Derived values — the following values on this page are calculated, not taken directly from the standard:

Value	How it is derived
Fahrenheit column	°C × 9/5 + 32.

Values are at one standard atmosphere. Mixtures show distillation ranges rather than a single boiling point.

Accuracy and use. The values on this page are compiled from the published standards and cross-checked sources listed above. Where values are derived, the derivation is stated. No warranty, express or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of this information, and no liability is accepted for any loss or damage arising from its use. Engineering reference data is provided for guidance in preliminary work — before a value is used for design, fabrication or acceptance testing, verify it against the current revision of the governing standard and against your own inspection. The user assumes all risk and responsibility in connection with the use of this information.

Cite This Page

Every value on this page is traceable to the sources listed above. If you use the data in a document, paper or report, cite it as:

Plain text

Engineering Reference. "Boiling Point Chart." https://refmanual.com/charts/boiling-point/ (accessed 2026-09-29). Data from Physical constants compiled from standard references, n/a — physical property data.

BibTeX

@misc{boiling-point,
  title        = {Boiling Point Chart},
  author       = {{Engineering Reference}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://refmanual.com/charts/boiling-point/}},
  note         = {Accessed: 2026-09-29},
  source       = {Physical constants compiled from standard references, n/a — physical property data}
}

RIS (EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley)

TY  - ELEC
TI  - Boiling Point Chart
AU  - Engineering Reference
PB  - Engineering Reference
UR  - https://refmanual.com/charts/boiling-point/
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026-09-29
N1  - Source: Physical constants compiled from standard references, n/a — physical property data
ER  -

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