So, back in October I had what I would consider an accident.
Visualize the following coffee making situation:
You are standing with your kettle in hand, The whistle had just blown its lovely tune, indicating the water is ready to be poured into your cup.
You grab your cup and start pouring, the stream of water lands on your hand as the kettle pours abit further than you had anticipated. You instantly think: “Oh man, pain!” Then you utter the words: “Hmm, thats wierd” as absolutely nothing happened apart from you getting a wet hand and some water splashing on the floor.
End of scenario. That was wierd indeed.
It gets wierder though. After contemplating why nothing happened that night, I thought to myself, why not just dip a finger in really warm oil? We had just concluded chicken frying, and in the bottom of the pan was a 5mm thick layer of oil. I dip my finger in the oil, only to find it not particularly warm. Oh well I think to myself and move the pan and start pouring water in it in order to clean it. The water starts boilung underneath the oil. A very hefty reaction actually occours which was kinda shocking. From the perspective of normal physics. This would indicate that the oil/pan is around or above 100C as the water is heavier than the oil, sinks under the oil, and boils underneath it.
I think to myself, this is really really odd and start the coffee machine. I let it make hot water instead of coffee. When done I take the pot and pour the water over my hand and again, nothing..
After this episode, sometimes early January, I decided I was not so afraid of burning my hands anymore as, uhm, it did not seem to be all that likely.
What prevents you from testing if the oil you are making “comfit de poulet” in is warm enough? It should be around 80C
In goes the finger… the verdict, 45C finger measurement. No problem, not hot, no nothing.
As it could be fun to verify the correctness of the measurement we find a thermometer. It reads 75C which was surprising.
Ok, in goes finger again at 80C just to see what would happen. “Comfit de finger” does afterall not sound particularly bad all things considered.
The result:
I am a little bit stumped about the results of these absolutely crazy experiments. Can anyone give me a logical explanation for why I have not suffered skin burns or blisters?
Mind over matter? Now that would be awesome 🙂
Happy Administrator 