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I know about the risks of superheating water in a microwave (and some countermeasures), but suppose that someone didn’t have any sort of wooden skewer, tooth pick, or something like that to act as a nucleation site.

Would some herbs sprinkled on the top of the water be sufficient to prevent superheating? Or would I still be in danger when removing the water from the microwave?

Anastasia Zendaya
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fyrepenguin
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    Microwave superheating is really not that big a deal, just give the water a minute to sit before you use it. – GdD Jul 13 '21 at 10:42
  • @GdD I was boiling water with a brand new container, and had some worry about whether it would seed any bubbles. Fortunately, mine did seem to have a couple spots that acted as nucleation sites, but I know that's not a guarantee for all new glassware. – fyrepenguin Jul 14 '21 at 08:40
  • Are you sprinkling them after you're done heating? If so, that should work, though you want to stand back. – dandavis Jul 20 '21 at 00:11
  • @dandavis no, putting them in before heating. For exactly the reason you say that I may “want to stand back”, which is the situation I was trying to avoid by using some thyme as nucleation sites to promote boiling over superheating. – fyrepenguin Jul 20 '21 at 00:54
  • @fyrepenguin: yes, but if you add them before heating, they can soak up water and not do anything, whereas tossing them in basically forces tiny bubbles clinging on the granules to do their magic. – dandavis Jul 20 '21 at 06:51

1 Answers1

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The problem with sprinking herbs on the top, would be that the container of water can be superheated at the bottom and not superheated at the top. (In fact, the top tends to be much cooler than the bottom, because of evaporation.)

Sneftel
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  • Wouldn’t convection do a good job of equalizing the temperatures there? If there’s an imbalance, the cooler water should sink. – fyrepenguin Jul 13 '21 at 11:08
  • Sure, over time. But the bottom is being continuously heated and the top is being continuously cooled. The system never comes to equilibrium. – Sneftel Jul 13 '21 at 11:29
  • OP needs something that sinks. In labs we usually use glass or ceramic beads to prevent super tumultuous ebullition, might be worth a shot with pie weights – Juliana Karasawa Souza Jul 13 '21 at 12:08
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    @JulianaKarasawaSouza yeah, I know there are a bunch of options, but as I said, currently unavailable. Was curious how much my idea would actually help – fyrepenguin Jul 13 '21 at 12:13
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    @fyrepenguin if we're improvising, I'd go for denser things, like a few beans or other legume – Juliana Karasawa Souza Jul 13 '21 at 12:53
  • @JulianaKarasawaSouza interesting point. I went with an herb that I'd already be using in the dish I was making; do you think that a few beans/legumes would unduly flavor the water? – fyrepenguin Jul 13 '21 at 23:26
  • @fyrepenguin if you add just a few of them to keep the water from superheating for the duration of microwaving, no, I don't think so. Quantity is too small and cooking time is too short – Juliana Karasawa Souza Jul 14 '21 at 05:34