In the last blog you must have met with our “peaceful” Dragon. She loves cooking but she is bothered all the time by the failing appliances of her kitchen that I have to mend always (poor me) and I let her know of the kitchen physics that keeps me safe:D.
Me: "Good Morning Dragon! Is everything okay?"
Dragon: “Yup”
Me: “It seems you are in a hurry. What’s up?”
Dragon: “I am late and I’ll have to reach office soon and today everything was so messed up plus I suffered an electric shock”
Me: “Aw, why? What messed up?”
Dragon: “My water heater, I shouldn’t have used this old wicked thing.”
Me: “Okay I’ll see to it but why are you stirring your nonstick pan so vigorously with steel spoon, it might damage it.”
Dragon: “Why non stick cookware should not be stirred with steel spoons?”
Me: “See Dragon, Nonstick cookware is made of aluminum and related alloy very much like ordinary cookware, but what makes them different is the special coating of Teflon on its surface. Teflon is a polymer and not metal which is very stable towards high temperature and it gives the cookware the property of non stickiness.
If nonstick cookware be stirred with steel spoons, steel being harder than Teflon puts scratches on it and with time the Teflon coating wears away thus the “non stick” property of the nonstick goes and it becomes useless."
Dragon: "Um okay, but how is hardness related to the scratches made?"
Me: "Good question Dragon; a hard substance can produce scratches on a soft substance. Let us for example take the instance of our finger nails and wax…can you tell me which one is harder?"
Dragon: “Obviously our finger nail; mine is harder than yours though.”
(Dragon smiled victoriously).
