• Neato@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    The hottest lava gets about 200C lower than the melting point of what looks like stainless steel. And the water inside will actually wick that temperature from the outside into the water pretty effectively.

    That’s also why you can boil water in a paper cup by placing it over a flame. The water eats the eat like a hungry jiraffe.

    • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ooo, you can use a plastic bag, like the kind supermarkets still use, in place of a pot too! Granted, I wouldn’t recommend it because god knows what plastics are leeching out of your makeshift pot and into the water, but if you need to boil water and all you have is a plastic bag, well, there you go!

      Considering how plastic trash is literally everywhere now, a survival situation where you have a reasonably intact walmart bag but no pot is more likely than you’d think.

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      A vital detail you forgot to mention is that water can store an absurd amount of heat even before it boils, and when it starts boiling it stops getting warmer and instead simply takes boils faster and faster the more heat is applied.

      It’s honestly basically magic.

      • Faresh@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        and when it starts boiling it stops getting warmer and instead simply takes boils faster and faster the more heat is applied

        Isn’t that how most matter behaves? An example of a process that seemingly relies on that, is distillation, which I imagine would be impossible to do, if once the boiling point is reached, the heat didn’t [stop going towards raising the temperature and instead going towards the vaporization enthalpy]

          • Faresh@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Ah, sorry. I had the impression you were saying that water was unusual in that regard («It’s honestly basically magic» misled me).