Flash Boil!

Published on 2005-12-13 by Mark VandeWettering

A couple of days ago I mentioned the idea of supercooled water existing in liquid form well below the freezing point. Perhaps more dangerous is another delayed phase transition: water can exist in liquid form at temperatures much higher than the boiling point and can flash boil when subject to a disturbance. This usually happens in the microwave oven, which is why sometimes people recommend placing a wooden skewer into a cup of water that you are heating for tea.

Check out the videos here for some examples. Do not try this at home: you can be badly burned by experiments like this. IIf you donโ€™t particularly value your life, you could refer to Bill Beattyโ€™s list of unwise microwave experiments for more dangerous ways to learn about science.