Re: a hot cup of coffee

On 17 May 2006 23:13:17 +1200, Robert Singers
<rsingers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Between saving the world and having a spot of tea Leslie Danks said
[snip]
OK, but the steam pushes the air out of the grounds (which are cold to
start with) so how fast that happens and how quickly the grounds warm
up would also affect how much oxidation occurs before all the air has
been displaced. And the first thing to happen might be that the
initial steam is cooled sufficiently to condense and form a cushion of
water, which displaces the air in the grounds and is in turn displaced
by (hot) steam.

I think you might be right in general. I'm fairly certain that my
espresso machine is forcing boiling water under pressure through the
grounds rather than pure steam. Whether there's enough pressure to
displace all the air I don't know.

This thread starts to remind me of how one of my schoolteachers
explained to us the difference between the Greeks and the Romans. If
the question arose as to how many legs a horse has, the Greeks would
sit around for days or weeks trying to arrive at the answer by means
of logical and philosophical discussion; the Romans would send someone
forth to find a horse and count its legs.

Sure, but the Greeks probably made a more lasting contribution to
philosophy and science than the Romans did as well.

And they knew that their conclusion would hold for all horses, not the
three-legged one that Roman forth chap saw.
--
Richard Bollard
Canberra Australia

To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT.
.

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