I was wondering if it was possible to boil water in a paper bag ( tried it once and failed) or is it a myth?

Answer 1

Well, if it was a waterproof bag, you could theoretically do it, since water boils at 212°F, and paper burns at 451°, so if you were careful to keep the heat distributed all over the bag, it could be done.

Answer 2

I have boiled water in a paper container. I made a kind of box put water in it and did it on the gas ring. It did work.
I didn't use a paper bag, just ordinary white writing paper.
It is to do with the temperature required to reach to make paper burn being much higher than the boiling point of water, not to do with the paper being wet. The paper I used wasn't absorbent, it contained the water, but the temperature couldn't go high because of the water inside it.
Try again. It does really work, but maybe not in a paper bag, it's a bit flimsy.

Answer 3

Yes , we used to do it at school behind the teachers back. Take asmall piece of newspaper about as big as the palm of your hand and fold it like a filter paper so that you've got a shallow dish shape put a spoonful or so of water in it and holdi over a gas flame so that the tip of the flame just touches the paper and it will boil
P>S> I know it's not quite a paper bag but the principle is the same

Answer 4

Yes it is .I have seen it done using a very strong brown paperbag and an oxyacetylene welding torch,but only a small quantity of water, half a mug full.The bag had to be held such that steam did not scold the welder.The reason for a strong bag is the water as it gets hotter softens the paper and it will becomes soggy and break under the the weight of the water.Great care if you try it and have somewhere for the hot water to go, prefferably not over yourself.

Answer 5

if you decrease the atmospheric pressure around water, it will boil at a lower temperature. For example, it is not possible to heat water to 100C at the top of Everest, as the boiling point of the water is dramatically reduced by the lowering of atmospheric pressure. This is how vacuum distillation units work. The liquid to be distilled would normally be destroyed or damaged at its natural sea-level boiling point, thus, it is heated in a vacuum to it's new low-pressure boiling point. Thus, if you can get a bag of water into a reduced pressure environment, it may be possible to boil it, but not at the usual 100C, and perhaps the bag would not be destroyed by the process.

Answer 6

as noted already paper combusts at 415 degrees F, water boils at 220 F, ( i think) but ive done it, just to show my kids. 1st get a good brown paper bag, half fill it with water and place teh bag in the embers, not the raw flame..and wait...

wood burns at around 800 degrees, (it melts lead easily) steel melts at 3200 degrees (give or take a bit) the water conducts the heat away, because it doesnt matter how long you boil water for it never exceeds 100c...because it boils, the only real variation in boil temp is altitude... so unless youre planning on doing this half way up everest... assume its going to boil 200 degrees before the paper ignites...

Answer 7

I tried to boil water in a paper cup once on a camping trip just to see what would happen. As the water boiled, it pured over the edge keeping the paper wet so the cup wouldn't burn. but as the water level got lower, the cup started to burn from the top down.

Answer 8

Yes. I have done it in a folded piece of paper. the trick is too only allow the flame to touch paper that has water on the other side of it. I learnt it as a young child from a book made by disney.

Answer 9

Yes it is very well possible. Pour the water in paper bag till is moist then keep it on low flame in such a way that the flame touches the moist part only. it would boil.

Answer 10

It is. Provided that you try it at very high altitude or at a very low pressure environment. The boiling point of water decrease as atmospheric pressure decreases. Theoretically water should boil even without heat if kept in a vacuum. So try that way. good luck!!