Canal-U

The mechanisms of boiling

Boiling is an effective way to remove heat. It is used as cooling medium in many industrial power such as power plants. The mechanisms governing the different regimes occurring during the boiling of a liquid usually are complex and often intertwined. It is important to know them and identify them in the laboratory. In particular, the detailed understanding of the boiling crisis, well known and feared for the damage that can result in practice is of primary importance. (For the boiling of a superfluid liquid, see the movie "modes at the interface stationary superfluid helium / gas generated by a hot wire" in the same theme.)