Is the Water Boiling Yet?

DD just received a practical physics lesson. She is trying to cook ravioli before she heads off for teen night at the middle school, but the pot was taking forever to boil.

I kept asking, “Is the burner on?” She would check.

“It is hot but not boiling.”

She must have come to me two or three times, it seemed odd, but she is old enough to troubleshoot.

After 44 minutes, she came to me again. This time I got up to check. This was impossible. Well, apparently not really. The pot was just beginning to bubble. I was very concerned that we had burned an element or the stove’s electrical system had somehow been hit in the thunderstorm that had blown through just hours ago. Then I looked more carefully. She had the big pot on the smallest burner.

Lesson: You can’t boil in a cauldron, if you only have it lit with a match.

Energy emitted from a small burner is not equal to the energy needed to boil a large pot of water.

By, D