Superheated water

Superheated water is liquid water under pressure at temperatures between the usual boiling point, 100 °C (212 °F) and the critical temperature, 374 °C (705 °F). It is also known as "subcritical water" or "pressurized hot water." Superheated water is stable because of overpressure that raises the boiling point, or by heating it in a sealed vessel with a headspace, where the liquid water is in equilibrium with vapour at the saturated vapor pressure. This is distinct from the use of the term superheating to refer to water at atmospheric pressure above its normal boiling point, which has not boiled due to a lack of nucleation sites (sometimes experienced by heating liquids in a microwave).

Many of water's anomalous properties are due to very strong hydrogen bonding. Over the superheated temperature range the hydrogen bonds break, changing the properties more than usually expected by increasing temperature alone. Water 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.

All materials change with temperature, but water exhibits greater changes than would be expected from temperature considerations alone. 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 °C is closer to 11 than the more familiar 14 at 25 °C. This means the concentration of hydronium ion (H
3O+
) is and the concentration of hydroxide (OH−
) are increased while the pH remains neutral. Specific heat capacity at constant pressure also increases with temperature, from 4.187 kJ/kg at 25 °C to 8.138 kJ/kg at 350 °C. A significant effect on the behaviour of water at high temperatures is decreased dielectric constant (relative permittivity).

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