In an organic chemistry lab in which t-butyl chloride was synthesized, a boiling point characterization test was used to confirm its formation. The boiling point measured was 10 degrees lower than its accepted value. Nowhere on the internet can I find an explanation for boiling point depression, but I need to explain this phenomenon…
This has the sound like a poster's lab result. The language is written so we don't know who did the distilling, "A boiling point characterization test was used to confirm…" If the poster said my temperature was low, then I will add the thermometer positioning can reduce the observed temperature from the literature value (my first choice). We could add that the thermometer was not calibrated, but I would doubt even an uncalibrated thermometer would be that far off, but it could be a degree or two.