You have a glass jar. You pour in water with a pitcher until it is half filled. You then seal the jar with an air-tight lid. (The only other thing in the jar is regular air). Assuming that the water in the jar is not already boiling after attaching the air-tight lid, how do you make the water boil?

boiling: the state in which liquid water is rapidly changing to water vapor (ie, the water is accually bubbling, not just steaming)

For clarification, the water is plain distilled H20. It is not heavy water, water with impurities, etc...

You cannot transfer or use anything that transfers light, heat, magnetic, electric, or chemical energy into the jar. (and no, shaking the jar till the water friction causes the water to boil does not work)

You cannot open or break the glass jar.

The area in the jar cannot increase or decrease. (You can try but the jar will not shrink, grow, or deform in any way)

You cannot insert anything into the water.

You must be able to conduct this experiment with easily attainable equipment, chemicals, and other materials. (ie, no radioactive chemicals, no superpowers, no multi-million dollar scientific equipment, you get my drift...)

(Note: although it is hard for it to succeed, you can conduct this experiment at home and get the water to boil without any special equipment.)

(In reply to re(4): The Answer by Jer)

Grievous bodily harm?  No, the following happened.

When the ice was placed, the bottle broke and the hot water splashed around and some droplets hit my little Maltese dog.  It frightened him and he jumped backwards.

Costprice: Recyclable bottle 0.10 Euro

The dog hit the large floor lamp, hard enough for it to fall.

Costprice: 279.00 Euro
Total 279.10

The lamp fell through the front window of the house.

Costprice: 442.00 Euro
Total 721.10

The glass falling on the pavement let a biker decide to jump of his bike which then rolled on the street and was hit by a passing car.

Costprice: 436.00 Euro
Total 1157.10

The car driver panicked and went down from the slope
at the side of the road.

Costprice: 2500.00 Euro
Total 3657.10

Unfortunately the car hit a passing train and pushed it off the tracks

Costprice: 215000.00 Euro
Total 218657.10

Those where the small costs.

It got worse when the train ran into the pillar of a bridge crossing the adjacent river, destroying it and then the bridge collapsed and fell into the river.

Costprice: 5,500,000.00 Euro
Total 5,718,657.10

Now the river is blocked, the nearby steel plat can't receive its ore and coal.  The work force (3500) must be payed for at least 6 months and they also claim loss of profit.

Costprice: 56,250,000.000.00 Euro
Total 56,255,718,657.10 Euro or about
70,895,940,813.94 $

Problems like this should have a warning:
"BE CAREFULL WHEN DOING TESTS"

Posted by Hugo on 2005-12-15 15:39:18