Water Can Pass 100°C Without Boiling. Here’s Why. #physics #sciencefacts



This water is above 100°C. It has no bubbles, no steam, and it is not boiling.

That is superheated water — and it can happen in an ordinary microwave.

100°C is not a speed limit for water. It is the temperature at which water is finally *allowed* to turn into steam. To actually boil, water must build a bubble, and a bubble starts so small that surface tension crushes it before it can grow. Water needs help: a scratch, a speck of dust, a rough surface. These are nucleation sites.

A hot pan is covered in them. Smooth clean glass in a microwave may have none at all — so the temperature keeps climbing past 100°C with nowhere to start boiling. Drop in coffee, and every grain becomes a nucleation site at once. The water flash-boils and erupts.

In laboratory conditions with clean enough water, this can be pushed to nearly 300°C before bubbles tear themselves into existence.

Safety: give a microwaved cup a minute before touching it, or leave a wooden stir stick in it while it heats.

So be honest — how long do you actually wait before pulling your cup out of the microwave? Tell me below.

#superheatedwater #physics #sciencefacts


Sources & further reading: homogeneous nucleation limit of water at 1 atm ≈ 300°C; microwave heating occurs by dipole rotation, not friction or resonance.

source

32 Comments

  1. It's very true. And the effect can be even more drammatic and dangerous than what you see here!
    In the lab they usually put small pieces of inert material (glass, ceramic) to avoid it.

  2. As a kid i don't remember this happening, water always boiled with lots of bubbles now i barley see any bobles like theres someting stopping it from boil. Im talking about stove boiled water not microwave.

  3. Happened to me once. I was preparing tea and I put some water inside the teapot and put it on the gas stove. But the water stayed calm for more than a normal period. I was confused as to why was neither any noise coming from it nor any bubbles forming. Them I added the sugar and as soon as the first spoon went in, it started boiling all of a sudden like crazy. Some of the water even spelled out. I got the answer today after a long time. Thanx to the internet.

  4. |> |> |> |> |> |> |> |>
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    never use microwave anyway … dosent matter for what …

    it destroyes the structure …

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  5. You should have at least said 100° C so those of us in the United States I'm confused for a few seconds before we realize that you just forgot to say Celsius because you think the entire world automatically knows that anything Americans do that

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