A watched pot never boils because the person most interested in its boiling is the person most likely to prevent it from boiling. Of course, it is possible for a watched pot to boil – but not with any real chance of success. So why would anyone watch something deliberately fail?
One explanation is that the phrase “watch” is used as a euphemism for “worry.” Another, the more cynical explanation is that the phrase is a warning to those who would steal food from a pot by heating it on a false fire. If they were caught, their only defense would be to say that they were watching the pot.
Or, “A watched pot never boils because you get worried when it looks like it’s going to boil.”
This phrase has been in use in English in various versions since at least the 16th century. It has been modified to “a watched kettle never boils” and to “a watched cake never browns.” Another version, “A watched pot never boils, but a watched bear never climbs a tree,” was used in the 19th century.
The practice of keeping an eye on something boils down to a safety precaution. One version of the phrase’s origin is that glazing pots have been known to crack under direct sunlight. Folk wisdom held that if one were to keep watchful eyes on the pot, the sudden movement of the watching person would cause enough distraction and ruin any chances of a full boil. This is particularly true in situations where one has to heat water over a fire, and it is only by keeping close attention that one could ensure that nothing untoward happens.
There is a common perception that a watched pot never boils, which means a feeling to take a long time when we wait for something to happen to focus on its progress anxiously, but what would be the situation in case of a watched tea kettle for making a cup of tea? In my opinion, even if we are looking at our ordinary gas and electric tea kettle, with significant consideration, the water molecules break down according to the intensity of heat and electricity provided results in a full rolling broil and making a buzzing sound as if no one is there to see.
It is easy enough to test this adage but provides an unusual experience. All you would have to do is to fill stainless steel kettle with water and place it on the stove keeping the kettle lid open or close up to your own choice but left the kettle lid on makes the process of boiling faster as the water molecules that got hot lifts up passing the water surface as steam, gathering as water vapor on the lid and falling back down to connect with their relative molecules.
Visual Experience
To do applied research about my topic and check the validity of the moral, I experimented with boiling water in a kettle using a gas stove, having 70 % of the efficiency of converting heat energy into the water. There are other forms of appliances like microwave, electric stovetop, induction stove, and electric teakettle itself. Each of these appliances has its efficiency to boil water that ranges from 50% – 85%. Here, we can also consider the type of kettle we are using for heating water because some cheap kettles have low heat resistance. There are various tea kettles used as per its requirement, for example, Electric kettle, cordless electric kettle, whistling kettle making whistles when the tea gets ready, glass kettle, etc.
The visional part of this tea-making procedure went through the expected steps. Firstly, put the bottom of the kettle directly on the burner, heated, making the water molecules at the bottom heat first naturally. This heat helps expand the water molecules and become light and actively working on their way up to cooler molecules towards the surface of the water. These water molecules’ boiling looks like “water worms ” moving around the bottom of the surface, making a reasonable shadow of many active hot water molecules. They are quickly gathering towards the sides of the kettle leading their easiest route to the top.
With every second of the clock’s hand, we can see that the amount of these water molecules is becoming more and more, making cooler molecules falling and beaking into rising hot molecules at a faster rate. After about ten minutes of the boiling kettle of five cups of water on the stove with a low flame, one can start hearing the sound of gushing hot molecules and cool molecules bumping into each other.
Maybe all this sounds quite idiotic and a wastage of time, but it is a worth sharing experience and is fascinating to know the real science behind the phenomenon of changing water into steam. Since the experiment took only a short period, from setting the kettle on the stove to get the desired boiling of water and invalidating the percept of ” Watched pot never boils” with a valid reason and scientifically proven method.
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Conclusion
To understand the mechanism of boiling water in a kettle, the concept ” Boiling ” should be clear in our minds. Boiling is a process of changing the state of water from liquid to gas. You should be well aware of the boiling point statistics of water temperature, which are different at different levels and depend on standard air pressure. Now coming over to the topic, Does a watched tea kettle boils? The answer to this question is positive. Obviously, water heating up on a stovetop will reach its boiling point according to the room temperature; no matter how many gallons of water is being used and whether you are there to see it broil or not changes nothing. So the expression,” Watched pot never boils,” changes in this case, and one can sleep peacefully knowing that, Yes !!! I watched the tea kettle does boil at some time.