Questions tagged [food]
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38
questions
0
votes
1answer
34 views
How does a microwave steamer work?
While I am no physicist, I am convinced this is a physics question:
How does a microwave steamer work?
It seems like a scam to me. Wouldn't the microwave be cooking the food and heating the water at ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
How do I calculate equilibrium temperature of a pot of water with some food in it, knowing only the equilibrium temperature of the pot of water? [closed]
Say I have a pot with 3L water on a stovetop, at an equilibrium temperature of 75ºC. I then add 1kg of meat at 20ºC to it. How do I calculate the final equilibrium temperature I should expect the pot'...
18
votes
3answers
2k views
When a microwave oven stops, why are unpopped kernels very hot and popped kernels not hot?
A commonplace empirical observation is that when a microwave oven stops, unpopped kernels are very hot (it's physically painful to touch them) and popped kernels are not.
Is there an elementary (or ...
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Why does bologna inflate radially when on stove?
I noticed that when heating up bologna in any way it inflates at the center, while other stuff tends to let the air escape sideways, or inflates in different places, like an egg or sausage. Nothing so ...
4
votes
2answers
163 views
Microwaves: why do they cook food?
I have looked up several explanations of microwaves and how they work but I am unclear on a few key parts of how they actually make the food hotter.
How I understand it now:
In addition to the light ...
20
votes
3answers
3k views
Why does chocolate burn if you microwave it with milk?
Chocolate Science!
I melt 3 spoons of dark chocolate in microwave oven in low. It melts in 3 minutes and it's just mildly warm. I add half a spoon of milk which makes it a bit cold again. So I ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
Thermoelectric cooler's Qmax cites maximum heat transfer — how is it so close to rated wattage considering TEC's low efficiency?
Some background regarding my question:
I'm thinking if making some sort of TEC-based ice cream maker. Considering the combined specific heat capacities, I calculated (possibly incorrectly) the value ...
2
votes
1answer
51 views
How would cooking change at 1km depth under sea?
A chimpanzee has just returned to the surface after extended time at 1km depth, breathing trimix air. This brings the possibility of hyperbaric habitation, however how would the basic functions of ...
-2
votes
1answer
48 views
Does the fermentation of batter increase its weight?
Indian dishes like the Idli and the Dosa are prepared from a fermented batter composed of mainly rice and black grams. (See here for more information on the preparation.)
Would the fermentation ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
Settling effect of crumbs in food [duplicate]
What is the physical principle behind the following behavior:
When left with the remainder of a bag of chips, or cookie crumbs, etc., when shaking this container, the smaller particles will settle to ...
53
votes
3answers
9k views
Why is Microwaved mac & cheese burnt where they touch?
After reheating cold about 1.5 oz. of Annie's Mac & Cheese shells for 15 seconds on high power in the microwave, the mac & cheese was burnt black only at certain points where the pasta is ...
15
votes
5answers
1k views
How do we calculate energy of food?
Here is the problem, according to me:
In a classic hamburger, according to my internet research, approximately 906 kJ are contained.
Now take a car of 1 000 kilograms, and push it to 30 m/s. It has ...
9
votes
1answer
201 views
Why is pizza soggy after microwaving?
Compared to when heated over fire, pizza is soggy when heated in a microwave oven. I want to know why this is.
So far I’ve just learnt that microwaves in ovens are of a specific frequency of ...
2
votes
1answer
652 views
Why hot soup is tastier than cold soup? [closed]
My physics teacher recently asked me this question. Can anyone answer the question?
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Antimatter particle in bananas [duplicate]
I recently came to know that banana produces antimatter. How does this happen and why doesn't the antimatter annihilate as our Earth has matter.
I looked for a relevant answer but could not find it.
4
votes
2answers
633 views
Why do turkey bacon slices form bubbles in the same places?
Often, turkey bacon forms large bubbles when cooking. It's simply a fact of how it cooks. More interestingly however, I was making turkey bacon this morning when I noticed that all of the slices ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Boiling potatoes
If the temperature of boiling water is about 100 ºC (depending on air pressure), why are boiled potatoes on a high stove flame cooked faster?
From the English Wikipedia:
Acrylamide was discovered ...
1
vote
1answer
277 views
What make an egg explode in the microwave
I think it's related to the air pouch in the egg, but I'd like to have a full physics explanation. What are the forces in presence?
What are the tricks to prevent the explosion?
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Why pressure cooker is more effective in cooking than any vessel?
Why do we prefer cooking/boiling food in pressure cooker, I know there is a reason but don't know what is it?
I can't show my work here as it is a conceptual question.
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Do foods with water exceed 100° celsius in the oven?
I was thinking that water in liquid state can't normally be much above 100 degrees celsius because it boils, so probably foods with lots of water like vegetables don't warm more than 100 degrees. Does ...
4
votes
1answer
17k views
Why does the food in the microwave heat up but the bowl doesn't?
I put a 1/4 inch thick clear glass container into the microwave with a plate on top and put it in for almost 5 minutes (there was lots of soup). When It came out the soup was really hot but I could ...
-1
votes
2answers
7k views
Physical reason of adding salt when we're cooking rice (osmosis)
Why do we add salt when we're cooking rice? I know one reason is related to the boiling point of water but someone said it is also related to "Osmosis". What is the relation between adding salt and ...
5
votes
2answers
5k views
Which way the water evaporate faster?
-Hello everyone,
Yesterday I was preparing some tomato sauce and, in order to remove some water from the sauce, I put it in a pot on the burner and waited until it started to evaporate. When I sow a ...
9
votes
4answers
24k views
Why do we use microwaves in microwave oven?
We know that any object above absolute zero emits electromagnetic radiation. So hotter the object shorter the wavelengths. In the electromagnetic radiation spectrum radio waves has the longest then ...
27
votes
3answers
39k views
How do microwaves heat moisture-free items?
Today I learnt that microwaves heat food by blasting electromagnetic waves through the water molecules found in the food.
Does that mean food with 0% moisture (if such a thing exists - dried spices?) ...
1
vote
0answers
35 views
Why does coke fizz more when you add ice [duplicate]
Why does coke fizz more when you add ice to it?
0
votes
1answer
2k views
Does stew lose more liquid if stirred as it cools?
Suppose I cook a stew or soup and then take it off of the stove and leave it uncovered to cool. Of course, it will cool faster if I stir it (more surface area), but it will, eventually, cool to room ...
4
votes
1answer
254 views
Boiling Pasta resulting in a Torus like shape?
I noticed when I was boiling pasta the other day that the pasta uniformly spread out and formed a donut like torus. Why does this happen? Does it have to do with the shape of the pot? I tried to take ...
3
votes
0answers
2k views
How much energy does it take to cook a steak?
Grilling in the park today I started to wonder just how implausible a portable battery-powered grill would be. There are of course a lot of parameters in this question, so let's narrow it down for now:...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
How could I determine the temperature at which an egg explodes
A while back, some friends and I pondered "what will happen to an egg if placed very near a campfire". So we placed an egg on a grill, approximately 12 inches above a real campfire. Something like 7-...
12
votes
4answers
2k views
Can we detect whether food has previously been heated in a microwave oven?
An acquaintance told me that she refuses to eat microwaved food because she read that the microwave changes the molecules of the food somehow. Her statement is vague and her sources are dubious but I ...
16
votes
4answers
25k views
Why does pizza cheese seem hotter than the crust?
When I eat hot pizza or a melted cheese sandwich, the cheese feels a lot hotter than the crust or bread: in particular, the cheese might scald the roof of my mouth. but the crust will not. Is this
my ...
0
votes
2answers
273 views
How much time can I power my laptop by eating one dessert?
Random question that popped into my mind after a 4-hours power outage. Let us assume that I am eating an extra dessert (250 kcal) and that I am using a bike and a generator to power my laptop (it ...
13
votes
4answers
4k views
Why are coke bottles that much fizzier if you shake them?
We've all been there: you drop your bottle of soda at some point and when you try to open it, it bursts into foam.
My question is, then: why does shaking a carbonated drink make the dissolved gas ...
-2
votes
2answers
116 views
Painting wine botles [closed]
Yes, it's a physics related question. Read on.
I know from general knowledge that in order to produce a decent wine, you must keep it in a dark place. Therefore, from my knowledge of physics I guess ...
7
votes
2answers
4k views
Cooking pasta: why does adding a lid lead to overflow?
When cooking pasta, some organic foam usually forms on the surface of the boiling water and the situation can be kept under control by adjusting the heat (and/or adding some oil).
Covering the pot ...
0
votes
1answer
140 views
People eating and gaining energy
Let's say we have 100 grams of chocolate which has 571 kilocalories (so it's about 2.4 megajoules) and we have barbell which weights 100 kilograms and need to lift it to 0.5 meters height.
So how ...
1
vote
3answers
8k views
Entropy and how it applies to everyday activities like eating food
So I was eating a plate of food one day and thought of entropy. As I understand the definition of entropy, it is the logarithm of the number of arrangements or states the object in question can be in, ...
