How hot can distilled water get in a microwave?

Question

As there is nothing to seed bubbles to start negative feedback, how hot can it get?

Uhm. Don't try this at home.

Like I said, don't do this. My question is: How hot does the water on the bottom get?

Answer 1

The principle you are refering to is called "superheating".
Normally a liquid starts boiling at its normal boiling temperature (212 F or 100deg C for water). If you use distilled water and a perfectly smooth container you can heat water to above it's boiling temperature, without it actually boiling. This is because smill particles or sharp edges in the container are places where bubbles first start forming. Vibrations can also trigger boiling. If water is superheated and fine solids (eg sugar or coffee powder) are put in it, it will instantly vaporise some of the water from the extra heat (energy) that is stored in the water and the sudden boiling can be very violent - causing the liquid to spray out of the container.

read more about it at this link:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/superheating.html
www.snopes.com/science/microwave.asp

In principle you can get the water to be several deg C above its normal boiling point....

Answer 2

A distilled water is water without the minerals. You still got the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in there, right?
Hot enough to get it steaming at around 212 degrees F. and after that is starts evaporating into vapor and mist and eventually dissipates.

Answer 3

Water boils at 100 degrees C or 212 Fahrenheit. Water will not get hotter than that as a liquid. The steam is hotter. In a pressure cooker you can get the water to boli at a higher temp.

Answer 4

It will vaporize and turn from liquid to gas at 100 Celsius.

Answer 5

I seen this on mythbuster it builds up on the bottom cause their nothing to bring it up as soon you stick something in it or jilt it, it will explode. you will get third degree burn if you get any on you.