Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
There is a classic demonstration, used to be common in high school physics labs: you boil water in a paper cup, over a flame, as I recall.
A paper cup!?
Please, folks, don't stick your hand in that invisible steam. It may only be at 100 degrees, but it's dangerous, it's carrying a lot of heat, which it will cheerfully transfer to your skin, in a flash. Maybe if you are *fast*, you wouldn't get burned, but I wouldn't advise trying it.
Neither would I, but that is what I have seen grizzled boiler room workers do. They don't hold their hands in the steam! They wave their hand through, quickly. The way a person can wave a finger through a the flame of a candle. If the steam is wet, droplets adhere to the skin and that hurts.
They do not do this with superheated steam, obviously. Only process steam a little above 100°C.
- Jed
