I'm confused with pressure and condensation of a gas inside a sealed container. Say I boil a liquid to it's gaseous state inside a sealed container and exert more pressure on that container then should the gas not turn back into a liquid?
For instance on Mount Everest the atmospheric pressure is 5psi and water boils at 71c, at ground level the pressure is 14psi and water boils at 100c. My thinking is that If I raise the pressure even more the temperature at which gas condensation occurs should be reached and the gas would suddenly turn back to a liquid?
If that's correct, what pressure would I need to exert on that gas to turn it back to a liquid state instantly?
Best Answer
Water vapor is not an ideal gas. Due to this, when you compress it instantly, you do work on it, and the temperature of the water vapor rises. Instant compression is adiabatic compression, and without heat transfer to the environment, you will not be able to transfer the heat necessary for condensation to occur.