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Grex Science Item 107: Frying and Boiling
Entered by sholmes on Tue Jul 24 03:09:36 UTC 2007:

This was one question I was asked years ago ( circa 1995) in my
thermodynamics practical examination. The thing was whatever answer we
gave the examiner just smiled and he never told us what the correct
answer was anyway. The question is ..

what's the difference between frying and boiling ? Is there any
difference  other than the different mediums?

6 responses total.

#1 of 6 by rcurl on Tue Jul 24 05:32:33 2007:

That has nothing to do with thermodynamics. Only the term "boiling", as in 
"boiling point", is used in thermodynamics. "Frying" is not a specifically 
thermodynamic term (although it could be used as an object, a "frying 
pan", in some examples of heating and cooling).

In the culinary arts there is, of course, a difference.

#2 of 6 by nharmon on Tue Jul 24 12:44:55 2007:

Yeah, maybe we don't understand the question very well. 

Boiling is the process by which you use heat to convert matter from a
liquid phase into a gaseous phase.

Frying is the process by which you use extreme heat to make a chemical
change in the matter.

I guess you could start by saying the boiling process can be reversed
(through condensation), while the frying process can not be.

#3 of 6 by rcurl on Tue Jul 24 19:54:48 2007:

Quite right. I wonder if the thermodynamics course included the thermodynamics
of chemical reactions? The answer to #0 could like in the course coverage.

#4 of 6 by sholmes on Wed Jul 25 07:45:07 2007:

In my college during viva exams for which the examiners are
external(i.e., they are sometimes brought in from other universities to
conduct the viva exams ), its not uncommon to have questions which are
not directly related to the exam syllabus. Sometimes they ask out of the
way questions just for fun , sometimes to see if the student has just
the knowledge of the syllabus with no idea of anything beyond the
textbook.

nharmon said:
>>I guess you could start by saying the boiling process can be reversed
>>(through condensation), while the frying process can not be.
-- can you condense a boiled egg to get the raw one ?

#5 of 6 by nharmon on Wed Jul 25 10:44:43 2007:

A boiled egg isn't really boiled... in that it was not changed from a
liquid phase to a gaseous phase.

#6 of 6 by rcurl on Wed Jul 25 18:44:39 2007:

Re #3: s/like/lie

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