Any pan can be turned into a non-stick pan. How to do it? First, you need to understand the Leidenfrost effect.

Did you know that any pan can be turned into a non-stick pan? To learn how, we need to first understand the Leidenfrost effect.

What is the Leidenfrost Effect?

Simply put, when a liquid comes into contact with a hot object, it forms a layer of steam to "isolate" it instead of directly contacting the surface.

In 1956, scientist Leiden Froese conducted such an experiment. He first heated a piece of iron sheet red, and then dropped two drops of water on the iron sheet.

Surprisingly, the water droplets remained suspended on the iron sheet for as long as 30 seconds.

In order to explore the principle, Leidenfrost dropped a drop of water on the iron sheet and then watched it with a magnifying glass.

It turns out that before the water droplets touch the iron sheet, part of the water evaporates into water vapor due to the high temperature. This layer of water vapor lifts the water droplets, resulting in this phenomenon.

The suspended water droplets have very poor heat conductivity, and the steam at this time is like a natural protective barrier, isolating the temperature from the iron pot for a short period of time.

In some places, it is a popular custom to walk barefoot across a fire. Participants will wet their feet before walking across the fire so that they will not get burned even if their feet are in the fire.

In the early days, people regarded this magical phenomenon as the favor of the god of fire, but they didn't know that it was just the use of the Leidenfrost effect.

Depending on the purity of the water and the material of the heated object, the conditions for producing the Leidenfrost effect vary.

For example, if you add a drop of pure water to a frying pan commonly used at home and raise the temperature inside the pot to about 200 degrees Celsius, the Leidenfrost effect will occur.

At this time, the water droplets in the pot swayed left and right as if dancing.

The principle is that the water vapor produced by the water droplets diffuses from the middle to both sides. Since the forces on both sides are not uniform, the water droplets appear to be dancing.

How to make the pan non-stick

Now that we understand the Leidenfrost effect, let’s talk about how it actually makes the pan non-stick.

If you want to prevent sticking, the most important prerequisite is that the temperature in the pot is high enough. Generally speaking, the temperature of an iron pot must be above 200 degrees Celsius, and the temperature of other pots must not be lower than 193 degrees Celsius.

In this way, when you cook, the moisture inside the ingredients will form a barrier that does not touch the pot when it comes into contact with the bottom of the pot, and the food will not stick to the bottom of the pot.

Another important point is that the dishes cooked in the pot must have water, or contain a certain amount of moisture.

For example, when you fry eggs, since eggs themselves contain water, as long as the temperature in the pan is high enough, the eggs will not stick to the pan even without adding oil.

If you want to fry a dried salt fish, no matter how high the temperature you heat the pan, you will not experience the Leidenfrost effect.

It is worth noting that the water vapor barrier formed in the pan has poor heat conductivity, so the eggs are not easy to be fried.

If the timing is not managed properly, after all the water vapor in the pot evaporates, the eggs will come into contact with the high temperature in the pot and will immediately become mushy.

Therefore, if you want to make rational use of the Leidenfrost effect, you need a strong control ability, and its practicality in life is actually not very high.

When we cook, we usually add oil. When oil comes into contact with water, the Leidenfrost effect is not obvious and the non-stick properties of the pan disappear.

So how do we determine whether the conditions for the Leidenfrost effect to occur are met in the pot?

It’s actually very simple. You just need to add a few drops of water into the pot and see if they are “dancing”.

If the conditions in the pot are not met, the dripping water will evaporate instantly.

In addition, many people will ask, can the natural gas stove at home really make the pot reach this temperature condition?

Generally speaking, the temperature generated by a natural gas stove is generally around 1000 degrees Celsius, and the temperature transferred to the pot is as high as 800 degrees Celsius.

The reason why we cannot feel such a high temperature in the pot when we cook is because the heat is transferred to the food, the moisture in it evaporates, and the heat in the pot is also taken away.

This means that when people cook, the temperature in the pot is always kept between 100 and 150 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, it is not difficult to heat an empty pot to above 200 degrees Celsius. The key lies in how to utilize the barrier effect of water vapor.

If the temperature in the pot is raised too high, it will inevitably cause a problem, that is, the non-stick coating on the surface of the pot itself may fall off.

You should know that many iron pan coatings on the market are Teflon, a toxic and carcinogenic chemical with a melting point above 300 degrees Celsius.

When making pots, other materials may be mixed into Teflon, causing its melting point to drop. The safe use range of Teflon is between -180 degrees Celsius and 260 degrees Celsius.

The temperature difference from the Leidenfrost effect is only 60 degrees Celsius, which is a very dangerous value.

Once the temperature inside the pot exceeds 100 degrees Celsius, the temperature rises very quickly. For the pot, there is actually not much difference between 200 degrees Celsius and 300 degrees Celsius, and it is difficult for people to distinguish.

If you use the Leidenfrost effect just to prevent food from sticking to the bottom of the pan, the results will outweigh the results.

These toxic substances easily accumulate in the body. Once the quantity is too high, they will turn into cancer cells after being absorbed by the cells, which will endanger human health.

Therefore, please do not try to use the Leidenfrost effect to cook at home easily.

Only by purchasing genuine non-stick pans through formal channels can you ensure quality.

The Leidenfrost effect in life

In 2014, a challenger dumped a bucket of ice water on himself.

However, this is too easy for people living in the Arctic Circle.

After seeing this, a ruthless man from the "fighting nation" planned to pour liquid nitrogen on himself.

The temperature of liquid nitrogen is as low as minus 196 degrees Celsius and is specifically used for scientific experiments and freezing human bodies.

For example, the human body freezing experiment started in the last century used liquid nitrogen. Theoretically, the experimental subjects could be preserved in liquid nitrogen for ten thousand years.

With current human technology, there is no way to release these experimental subjects from the ice.

By the same token, once a person is frozen by liquid nitrogen, the injury will be irreversible and cannot be cured by medical means.

This ruthless guy started a live broadcast on the Internet and placed a bucket full of liquid nitrogen in front of the screen.

In order to verify the authenticity of liquid nitrogen, the challenger inserted a branch into the bucket during the live broadcast. The branch quickly turned into an ice sculpture, and then the challenger threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces.

Under the gaze of the audience, the challenger wore only a pair of shorts and poured a whole bucket of liquid nitrogen on himself. The challenger laughed loudly in the liquid nitrogen and was not affected at all.

In fact, this is the use of the Leidenfrost effect. Under normal atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen is as low as minus 196 degrees Celsius, and the core temperature of the human body is as high as 37 degrees Celsius.

The moment liquid nitrogen touches the human body, it vaporizes and creates a protective barrier, isolating the human body from the ultra-low temperature of liquid nitrogen.

However, the protection time is only 2 seconds. Once this time is exceeded, the human skin will be frostbitten.

Therefore, after this ruthless man poured liquid nitrogen on himself, he hurriedly asked his companions to drive away the liquid nitrogen around his body.

The challenger said that although liquid nitrogen is very cold, it is not that scary.

There are many examples of the Leidenfrost effect in life. After learning the relevant knowledge today, I believe that everyone will not be fooled by those incredible phenomena.

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