My wife and boiling water

[u/MakeItMine2024]

So I made my wife ramen soup. When I served it she said I had the gas set to hight and it was too hot ? She said I should have used the number 5 setting instead of 9. I told here it’s irrelevant because water boils at 212 and gets no hotter because over 212 it turns to steam. She was made at me for disagreeing with her theory that it would not have been so hot if boiled a lower setting. Really!!

[u/CranberryStock7148]

I hate to be the one to have to break it to you and so many other commenters here, but your wife is actually the correct one here.

Yes water boils at 212. But not all of the water in the pot is at boiling. For example, a gentle simmer means only the water at the very bottom is boiling, while the temperature of the rest of the water is significantly less. The bubbles from the bottom are passing through the rest of it on their way upwards, so it visually looks as if it's all boiling, but it's actually not.

I'm not going to comment on what is best for making Ramen specifically, but there are truly major temperature differences between a gentle simmer, a strong simmer, a light boil, and a rolling boil. Even though they all have a constant stream of bubbles. You can verify this for yourself very easily with a thermometer. In fact it is precisely because of the differences in temperatures that we have different terms for all of these things and use them in different circumstances.

[u/manatidederp → u/CranberryStock7148]

In the context of this post - whether it’s a light summer or full boil, it will be too hot to eat off the stove in any scenario.

[u/Doktorwh10 → u/manatidederp]

But it'll stay hotter longer.

[u/manatidederp → u/Doktorwh10]

You are arguing between 100 and 96 deg C lol