Boiling The boiling point of water is 100 °C or 212 °F but is lower with the decreased atmospheric pressure found at higher altitudes. Boiling water is used as a method of making it potable by killing microbes that may be present. The sensitivity of different micro-organisms to heat varies, but if water is held at 70 °C (158 °F) for ten minutes, many organisms are killed, but some are more resistant to heat and require one minute at the boiling point of water. Boiling is also used in cooking. Foods suitable for boiling include vegetables, starchy foods such as rice,
Stone boiling the wind cooled above-ground containers before the rocks could efficiently heat the water which made the already fuel-intensive process less effective and viable. At Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in what is now Alberta, Canada, bison hides were used to line pits that held the water. Indigenous peoples’ use of stone boiling involved heating stones in or near a hearth or fire before the rocks were transferred to a nearby water-filled container by using forked sticks. The rocks would then be removed from the container by using those forked sticks and bracing the stones to the side of the container. Rocks used