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Justin Credible

Does boiling water remove sulfur?

Bernardo Omar  Follow

No.

Boiling water that has sulfur in it just removes water. That is how the physics works.

When you have water with other stuff mixed into it, and you then add heat, the temperature rises until it reaches the boiling point of the substance that has the lowest boiling point. It will not appreciably rise from that point until all of that substance has boiled off. Then the temperature will rise to the point of the material with the next lowest boiling point. And so on.

Sulfur has a boiling point that is much higher than the boiling point of water, 444.6°C vs 100°C, respectively. So if you boil water with sulfur in it until you have only one remaining, you'll be left with a pot of sulfur, not a pot of water.

NB: I would tell you how to remove sulfur smells (which arise from bacteria in the water releasing hydrogen sulfide, not from sulfur), but that is a different question, one which has already been answered multiple times on Quora. Just do a quick Quora search if that's what you really wanted to know.

NB#2: Hydrogen sulfide can be boiled off, having a lower boiling point than water, but it takes for-fewkin-ever. Not a good choice.

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