Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble:
The International Collaborative Boiling Point Project

Graphing Your Results

If you've never graphed before with your kids (or even if you have), this exercise lends itself well to graphing. Graphing allows scientists to see relationships between numbers. In order to graph something, all you need is:

1. some data to graph
2. a spreadsheet program

In this boiling point exercise, you can graph any of the numbers against any of the other numbers. So you can graph boiling point temperature vs. room temperature, boiling point temperature vs. number of people in the room or boiling point temperature vs. elevation.

Below I've graphed boiling point temperature vs. elevation. In order to graph the data, I first need to enter the data into a spreadsheet. You would want to enter one set of numbers in column A and the matching set of numbers in column B. So, in this instance, I put elevation in column A and Boiling Point in Column B. (Note: you would get the numbers from the data table on the boiling point homepage.) Here's a picture of my spreadsheet data.

Once you've entered the data, you need to select it all and have your spreadsheet program make a chart for you. This command will vary from program to program. You might have to read the manual or email me if you're having difficulty.

The spreadsheet program will create a graph for you (if you request the proper information) with the elevation on one side and the boiling point on the other...like this.

If you see a nice straight line, you can rest assured that there's a good strong relationship present between the two variables. That's all there is to it...try it yourself.

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