ANSWERS: 4
  • If by 'faster', you mean 'does it take less time to come to a boil', the answer is no. If by 'faster' you mean 'livelier' , then maybe. Salt increases the temperature at which the water boils by about 6-7ºF. Because of the higher boiling point, salt in the cooking water will make your food cook slightly more quickly; perhaps that is what your question was meant to ask.
  • "As soon as any of the salt dissolves in the water, the boiling point of the water will begin to rise -- by about one half degree Celsius for every 58 grams of salt dissolved per kilogram of water. In fact, any non-volatile soluble substance will raise the boiling point of water. [...] Referring to the specific situation you described: I will assume that the rather small amount of salt added (relative to the much larger volume of water) will be completely dissolved well before ebulliation commences. If so, the salted water will require more exposure to the heat before boiling than would the distilled water. So the salted water "boils slower" than the distilled water. Nevertheless, under these real-world conditions of low salt concentration, it would be difficult to tell which pot boiled first. Consider this experiment -- just do not do it: Bring two pots of plain water to near boiling and then toss salt in one of them. The pot receiving the salt will likely explode into violent boiling because the salt crystals provided nucleation sites that would allow the water to vaporize as the salt fell through the superheated liquid. Same thing would happen is you used fine sand. Under those conditions, the salted water wins. However, that is not (or should not be) the way things are done." Source and further information: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01021.htm
  • Contrary to popular belief salt doesn't infact make your water boil faster but before it completely dissolves provides lots of nucleation sites for the water vapour to form on and then escape as bubbles. You see this as more bubbles for a short time when you add the salt and then it settles down again to how it was boiling before the salt was added. Although salt does increase the boiling point of water (and increases its freezing point too) the amount you add when you normally cook will not appreciably increase the boiling point at all.
  • no, it will boil slightly slower

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