I boiled water on my stove and it exploded!?

Hi, I was trying to boil water last night on my electric stove. I remember commenting that it was taking longer than usual to boil - it was steaming like crazy but not boiling. Suddenly the water just exploded - and whatever water was left in the pot then began boiling happily away.



I'm assuming that somehow the water was superheated (which I know can happen in microwaves). But on a stovetop? What happened? How can I prevent this in the future?



For reference: I was using a stainless steel 2-quart pot, tap water, and an electric coil stovetop. Immediately before cooking, I had washed the pot with dish soap and a scrubby brush, rinsed well, and then filled with hot tap water.I boiled water on my stove and it exploded!?
That is a rare thing for sure. Too bad you didn't get it on video! Most sites talk about it being impossible to happen on the stove.



I would suggest stirring the water occasionally and check for bubbles forming at the bottom of the pot. No bubbles = extreme caution.I boiled water on my stove and it exploded!?
For some reason, there was a lot of surface tension, which prevented the bubbles from breaking through the surface, until the pressure was too great, and it exploded. Next time you boil water in that pot, put something in it, like a big spoon, to break the tension, and provide more surface area to nucleate bubbles.
This often happens with distilled water. 'superheated'



because there weren't particles in the water, H2O gas had nothing锘?to accumulate on, allowing it to remain in a liquid state



instead of it turning to vapour



utube exploding water (mostly showing microwave, but it doesn't have to be)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeWQ72X-Y鈥?/a>
I know that can happen if there is a layer of oil on the surface of the water, bit I've never heard of it happening with just plain water. Interesting.
best you look at owners manual for info on cookware to use

or call the company stove mfg consumer line
did a lot of the water boil over or did the water actually fly out of the pot.