Rapid Evaporation (#1)
Selected frames from Attempt #1 of Matt’s Boiling Water Experiment (YouTube).

At -12F, a quart of boiling water thrown in the air above one’s head results in this huge cloud of steam and about a half cup of snow/ice pellets falling to the ground. The majority of the water evaporates instantly.

Well, not really explosives. But certainly that sort of appearance…

Tonight’s post photo is brought to you courtesy of typical (or maybe just slightly atypical) mid-January in Minnesota. There’s just something about the ability to throw a quart of boiling water over your head and not suffering the ill effects of scalding that intrigues me. And many other people. 🙂

The low temperature of the entire weekend occurred at 4:17AM, Sunday, January 20, 2008. It reached -24.3F. That’s pretty cold, and I’m glad I was in bed at the time. Ever since then it has been warming up (as promised) and, while still cold, is more tolerable in part to the fact we’ve all become acclimated to the cold of winter.

So here’s to old man winter…and also to science!

“How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
– Anais Nin (1903-1977)

–MZ