So I was making spaghetti...

[LittleRocker]

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And I couldn't help thinking about how when I added NaCl to the water prior to boiling (for flavor) I was effectively raising the boiling point of the water because it's one of the four colligative properties 😱

the MCAT rules my life

 

[Nikki2002]

it raises the boiling point, but since the water is at a higher temp, it cooks your pasta faster.

 

[Arsenic]

And I couldn't help thinking about how when I added NaCl to the water prior to boiling (for flavor) I was effectively raising the boiling point of the water because it's one of the four colligative properties 😱

the MCAT rules my life

or how in the north they use CaCl2 to salt roads since it breaks into 3 ions instead of NaCl which breaks into 2. chemistry just kicks a$$.

 

[LittleRocker]

it raises the boiling point, but since the water is at a higher temp, it cooks your pasta faster.

from a cooking website:

"A generous amount of salt in the water seasons the pasta internally as it absorbs liquid and swells. The pasta dish may even require less salt overall. For a more complex, interesting flavor, I add 1 to 2 tablespoons sea salt to a large pot of rapidly boiling water. By the way, the claim that salted water cooks food faster (because of its higher boiling temperature) is exaggerated; you're not adding enough salt to raise the temperature more than about 1°F."

 

[xiaoyi666]

i dont like my pasta noodles to be salty, i prefer to add cold water as it starts to boil or just leave the lid off and let it boil on medium. but then again, we arent sharing recipes now are we?

 

[werd]

yeah... just think of how much salt you'd have to add to raise the boiling temp by 1 degree... i'm sure the pasta would taste awful by the time you raised it by 0.5. nacl has got a mw of like 58, and doesn't water's bp change by like 1.8C for every molal of stuff?
a good rule of thumb amongst chemists is that around room temp, cooking/rxn times change by about 2-fold for every 10C you change the temp. i've never actually used this in real life but it's out there 🙂.

 

[QofQuimica]

or how in the north they use CaCl2 to salt roads since it breaks into 3 ions instead of NaCl which breaks into 2. chemistry just kicks a$$.

Sodium chloride is still often used just because it's so much cheaper, albeit less effective. 🙂