Does it take longer to bring water to 212 degrees Fahrenheit at 6200
feet altitude? And what is the relationship between the water bubbling
at altitude and the temperature of the water?

Hi tucker

   Both comments are good and useful, but your question is not
   wrong: Not only customer is never wrong, but also from point
   of view of logic answer is possible:
 It takes longer, indeed infinitely long, since all your water
 evaporates before reaching 212 F. Unless you use sparkys idea,
 in which case it is the time to handle the cooker :-).

Seriously, To get  Boiling Point (temperature when water starts bubling)
 at given altitude take away .9 F for each 500 feet increase in altitude.
http://www.fetco.com/boilingpoint.htm

 for 6000 feet you get 200 - 201 F. (depending on weather)

More details at:
http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy00/phy00252.htm


hedgie

Hi

You are slightly wrong in the way you posed the question, since you
ask "why does it take LONGER to reach 212 F (boiling at sea level) at
higher altitudes?"  Your actual question should be "Why does boiling
water not reach 212 F at high altitudes."  The rate of temperature
increase is the same at all altitudes.  However, the water temperature
will not go above the boiling temperature at that altitude, which
decreases as the altitude increases and the air pressure decreases. 
"Boiling" occurs at the temperature where the water has enough energy
to vaporize at that air pressure.  The converse is the fact that water
does not boil at sea level, if a pressure cooker is used to increase
the air pressure.  At lower air pressures (higher altitudes) water
will boil at lower temperatures, and thus food takes longer to cook if
boiled at higher altitudes.

Socal basically has it.

The higher above sea level you go the lower your air pressure is.

The lower below sea level you go, the higher your air pressure is.

The lower the air pressure, the lower the temperature at which water
boils.

The higher the air pressure, the higher the remperature at which water
boils.

Water cannot be heated past the boiling point as it turns to steam at
the boiling point. (Although I have been told that you can get turbo
cookers that heat water up faster then it can convert to steam, so for
a brief time it would be hotter then the boil point.)

This is something I read about when I got into home canning and
preserves. Since at higher levels the water is still cooler even
though it is boiling, it takes longer to process jars of preserves in
the hot water bath.

Also, since low-acid foods such as vegetables and meats have to be
cooked to 240 degrees F to kill botulism, at sea level thesejars have
to be cooked in a pressure cooker set to at least 10 pounds pressure.
This allows the water to boil at, and create steam at, 240 degrees or
higher. The higher above sea level, the higher the pressure needs to
be in the pressure cooker to attain this.

If you wanted to save time, and maybe some energy, at your 6200 foot
altitude, use a pressure cooker, to cook foods faster and hotter.

Just a suggestion.

sparky4ca-ga

It is in fact possible for water to be super-heated past boiling point
whilst
still remaining liquid.  We observe this when water is heated by
microwave
in a very smooth-surfaced container.  When the container filled with
hot water is removed from the microwave and (say) coffee is added, the
water can -- literally -- explode as steam.  The moral would seem to
be: be careful when you microwave water for hot drinks!

Anduril-ga