Re: superheated water

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Thu, 3 Feb 2000, Bernard G. Cleyet & Nancy Ann Seese wrote:

> About the twice boiling, I'll repeat:  I've was told and then experimentally
> confirmed that boiling stones no longer work if one stops boiling and then
> tries to start again.  I always discarded them after use. Now I'd rinse them
> and try using again after drying.
>
> bc
>
> P.s I'm beginning to suspect that only gas acts as a nucleating agent.  A la W.
> B.

Not me!  I think Chris Bohren talked about it in CLOUDS IN A GLASS OF
BEER.  Once I encountered the concept, all sorts of things started making
sense.

On the other hand, nano-scale events can also trigger boiling, but perhaps
this only occurs during extreme superheating of liquids where there are no
nucleator-bubbles to limit the temperature rise.  Depending on particular
conditions in the liquid, bubbles which are below a certain size will
SHRINK because the highly-curved liquid/gas interface promotes
condensation.  If the size-threshold for bubble growth depends on the
amount of superheating, then everything makes sense.  For
slightly-superheated liquids, only a relatively large bubble could act as
a nucleation site.  For extremely superhead liquids, even a single ion
could trigger the creation of a boiling bubble.  I only heard recently
that particle tracks in bubble chambers are created when the pressure is
*suddenly* removed from relatively warm liquid hydrogen.  Does this mean
that bubble chambers go "bang?"

If beer can detect cosmic rays, the way to do this would be to use warm,
overly-carbonated beer in unopened bottles, then pop the cap and flash a
strobe light after a short delay.

These conditions might have occasionally arisen naturally before the
1980's?

:)



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