July 3rd, 2008 · No Comments

By John DeFore

Water boils whenever it reaches 100 degrees Celsius, period — right?

As with many lessons learned in elementary school, the truth is more complex than that, and new research conducted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York is examining those complexities to come up with some energy-saving innovations that have big ramifications for energy processes relying on steam.

Let’s start with the basics: Water actually only turns into vapor where it meets air, either at the top of a pot or along the metal surface, where imperfections in the pot’s material trap tiny air bubbles. Because of the way water interacts with these “microscale” cavities, water may not come to a boil even when most of the pot has reached 100 degrees. Waste of energy? Yes.

Rensselaer researchers have found, though, that adding a layer of copper nanorods to the surface of a copper pot creates a different dynamic, letting water move more efficiently along the surface and come to a boil more quickly — creating 30 times as many bubbles and using far less energy.

While these nanotech applications like this aren’t likely to make it into your kitchen pots and pans any time soon, they could be big news for industrial processes that require steam production, for heat transfer systems, and when it comes to cooling computer chips — lowering energy use and saving money. More efficient pasta and devilled eggs will probably have to wait.

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