Physics At Dinner

I know that this may look a little funny, but this was my parents' and my dinner (halibut with butter and rosemary). It was really good. While this may not seem very Physics like, I found myself relying on Physics to serve my dinner. When my dad first took the dish out of the oven, it was too hot to touch and I didn't have an oven mit so that I could steady the dish while I served myself. So I just used the one hand with the tool pictured. However, the fish was sticking to the pan, therefore making it hard to serve with only one hand. At first the dish didn't slide, then I felt that I was reaching the limit of static friction. Afraid that I would have to travel the five feet to get an oven mit, I tried different angles with the server, trying to find a place where the dish would neither slip nor spin. Eventually, I was able to serve my food without overcoming the maximum static friction force, although I was very close. I guess even though the dish is rather heavy (giving it a large normal force for a larger friction force), the fish was rather stuck. I also noticed other Physics connected with food and microwaves. When I heat up my lunch, which today was leftover spaghetti, I have to place a piece of wax paper over the top to keep it from splattering. This is because the water in the sauce turns to steam and, as it gets hotter, it expands (V1/T1=V2=T2 at constant pressure). If the reaction does work at constant pressure, the air is released from inside at a non-messy rate. However, if this is an isochoric instead of an isobaric process, the pressure rises with the temperature (P1/T1=P2/T2) and will eventually overcome the sauce's ability to contain it. At this point, the bubble explodes and sauce splatters all over the inside of the microwave, an occurence that is really hard to clean. That is the reason for the wax paper, unless, of course, you are like me and microwave food until it's cooked a second time, then sometimes the spaghetti explodes out the sides. That's always fun. :-)