How does the rice cooker know when to turn off?

(Published on 16 May 2006 in 'Women at Work' - W @ W - a supplement of the Daily Mirror, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Having an identity crisis? You fit into a bracket called – ‘Homo Sapiens Ignoramus.’ Perplexed? Come to Mama. As per Wikipedia, ignoramus is an ‘unknowledgeable’ person and originates from a Latin word ignoramus meaning “we do not know.” Don’t cringe. Be around in my company darlings – and a little bit of aura will rub off on you too.

Remember, your mother’s advice – “always sit next to a smart kid in class...” She was talking about me, smarty pants. From silicon implants to menopausal aunts, we, the Miss Know-Alls have an answer for everything.

And if you are left wondering how I do muster up so much information – it’s because I have a curious mind. Day to day things intrigue me. Ever looked at a rice cooker and wondered how it knows when to turn off? No rocket science here. There are a number of appliances that "know" when they should turn off. A rice cooker is just one of them.

All such appliances use the same principle. We all know that the boiling point of water is 100 degrees C. (Remember your Chemistry class back in school?) If there is boiling water in a heated container, the container will maintain a constant temperature, which is the boiling temperature of water. On cooking for sometime all the liquid water will evaporate or, as in the case of the rice cooker, it will get absorbed by the rice. The temperature inside the container immediately rises. The appliance has a thermostat that can detect when the temperature rises above the set temperature in the container, and it turns itself off.

What’s a thermostat you ask? Oh lord – I think I’ve created a monster. Simply put, a thermostat is a temperature regulator.

And now that you have started using your grey cells here’s some fodder for your brain - courtesy “Five Frogs On A Log” by Mark L Feldman & Michael F Spratt.

Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left?

There are still five, honey - because there’s a difference between deciding and doing. Leave you on that thought provoking note.

Miss Know-All
wow@dailymirror.wnl.lk