Answer to the Question 11/00
FRYING IN OILThe question was:
The boiling point of olive oil is higher that the melting point of tin. How can you explain that it is possible to fry in tinned skillet.
(24/12/2000) The problem has been solved correctly by by Itzhak Shapir (5/11/2000) (e-mail itzhaksh@mail.rafael.co.il), by John Moore (20/11/2000) (e-mail ivyscience@pop.mindspring.com), by James Montaldi (29/11/2000) (e-mail montaldi@essi.fr), by Will Brunner (10/12/2000) (e-mail brunner@terra.colorado.edu), and by Lior Fainshil (15/12/2000) from Tel Aviv University (e-mail l.fainshil@surfree.net.il).
The answer: Oil does not boil, when frying. It is water in the food that boils! And the boiling water keeps the temperature of the oil and pan almost fixed. (However, when the food is left for too long time to fry most of its water is lost and then the food may be burnt, as well as the oil and the pan.)
This question was asked by Edoardo Amaldi during a teaching session in Enrico Fermi's room. It was answered by a student Miss Ginestra Giovene who later became Mrs. Amaldi. The story is related by Laura Fermi in the book Atoms in the Family (My Life with Enrico Fermi) [Tomash Publishers (American Institute of Physics), 1987 (Vol. 9 in the series "The History of Modern Physics 1800-1950"); Originally published by Univ. of Chicago Press (1954)]
Back to "front page"