Steve Mould demonstrates a neat thermodynamic trick in this video by using ice water to boil hot water. The key to understanding this is recognizing that the boiling point of Keep reading
Tag: boiling
Supercooling Thermodynamics
In the latest Gastrofiscia episode, Tippe Top Physics takes on thermodynamics and the complicated truth behind certain phase changes. Although we’re accustomed to thinking of water freezing at 0 degrees Celsius and Keep reading
Boiling in Microgravity
In the playground of microgravity, every day processes can behave much differently. This photo comes from the RUBI experiment, the Reference mUltiscale Boiling Investigation, aboard the International Space Station. Freshly installed and Keep reading
Superheating
Being hot isn’t always enough to make water boil. To form vapor bubbles, water and other liquids need imperfections that serve as seeds. In the absence of these, the liquid Keep reading
Exploding a Drop
Leidenfrost drops levitate over a hot substrate on a thin layer of their own vapor, constantly replenished as the drop evaporates. For the most part, previous studies have focused on Keep reading
Boiling with Sound
Ultrasonic vibrations can boil nanoscale liquid layers, according to a new simulation-based study. Above you see a layer of water initially about 2 nm thick. When the surface it’s on Keep reading
Different Kinds of Boiling
When you put a pot of water on to boil, you probably don’t give much thought to the process. In our daily lives, we pretty much only see one kind Keep reading
Water on Mars
Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are seasonal features on Mars that leave behind gullies similar to those left by running water on Earth. Their discovery a few years ago has prompted Keep reading
A Molecular View of Boiling
All matter is made up of molecules. But most of the time we treat fluids as materials with given properties – like density, viscosity, and surface tension – without worrying Keep reading
Daily Fluids, Part 3
A lot of the fluid dynamics in our daily lives centers around the preparation and consumption of food. (And in its digestion afterward, but that’s another story!) Here are a Keep reading