Cooking At High Altitudes

Cooking At High AltitudesInfographic

Rebecca Peters

Why is cooking at high altitudes different than cooking at sea level?

As altitude increases, air pressure decreases, and as air pressure decreases, the temperature at which water boils and food cooks also decreases. This could become a problem for people who live at high elevations or who are cooking food during a hiking trip up a mountain. Since the water will start to boil at a lower temperature, the water will not get to as high a temperature as it would when it is boiling at an elevation close to sea level. To make sure that food is cooked completely at higher elevations, food that is boiled or steamed needs to be cooked for longer.

In Gay-Lussac’s Law, as pressure increases, temperature increases, and as pressure decreases, temperature decreases. This shows a proportional relationship between the variables of pressure and temperature.

This occurance is explained by Gay-Lussac’s Law, which deals with the relationship between temperature and pressure.

As the altitude increases, the air pressure decreases, also decreasing the pressure on water molecules that are heating up. As the water molecules heat up, they move faster and faster, turning into a gas, and causing the water to boil. When the air pressure is increased at lower elevation, the molecules need move faster in order to escape and turn into gas, which means the temperature at which the water boils also increases. When the air pressure is decreased, such as what happens when the altitude increases, the molecules don’t have to move as fast in order to turn into gas molecules. This means the water molecules are able to turn into gas at a lower temperature, therefore making the water boil at a lower temperature..

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