Question for a physicist and/or chemist

Dec 19, 2009 16:06

I have some wild rice. The instructions on it say to boil some water in a saucepan, stir in the rice, cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and wait a while. When I stir the rice into the boiling water, I also stir in some butter and a spice mix (sugar, powdered soy sauce, onion, sesame seeds, garlic, and some other stuff). I mix everything thoroughly, ( Read more... )

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Comments 5

krustad December 20 2009, 02:45:41 UTC
Have you watched the water flows while the rice is cooking? In my rice cooker, at least, most of the boiling water (especially when the water level is getting low) moves from center out. Presumably the sesame and other spices are light enough that they get caught by the flow, while the rice doesn't (and the butter and sugar dissolve).

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hmcmodelt December 20 2009, 16:07:55 UTC
I have a clear lid to one of my pots. Next time I make rice I will try to watch.
Interesting.

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ovary December 20 2009, 17:01:05 UTC
Convection currents are likely coming up the middle (hottest), rolling to the outside of the pan (cooling), before going back down again to heat up and come up the middle. (like krustad said.)

If you're finding this sort of thing happening without the heat being on (no currents), I would be more likely to guess it has something to do with surface tension. Fun thing to do: take a coffee cup, fill it with water, and sprinkle pepper on the surface of the water. Put your finger in soap, and touch the top of the pepper water. MAGIC!

Exciting things:
http://hmf.enseeiht.fr/travaux/CD0001/travaux/optmfn/hi/01pa/hyb72/rb/rb.htm

This was fun too:
http://www.curiouscook.com/cook/other_writings_detail.php?id=40

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big_bad_al December 20 2009, 21:25:02 UTC
Ooh, I like your mention of convection currents! and because I have a gas stove instead of an electric one, the flames/heat are concentrated in the middle, rather than spread throughout the bottom of the pan. Well done!

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mikasaur2000 December 21 2009, 02:24:58 UTC
Yeah I was going to say a combination of convection currents and surface tension.

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