Water boiling and cooking time
Will there be a difference in the time for which it will take for eggs to be prepared in the cases mentioned below?
A. Cooking eggs in a pot on full gas power until the water reach boiling point - and then lowering gas to mimimum power.
B. Cooking eggs in a pot on full gas power until the water reach boiling point - and then leaving gas maximum power.
Question rephrased: in which case will the eggs be prepared faster?
Best Answer
As long as the water is actually boiling the whole time, then there is no difference whatsoever.
Boiling water can only have one temperature (around 100 C, but adjusted somewhat for altitude or impurities in the water), and it stays at that temperature as long as it's in a state of boiling. Keeping the heat up only serves to hasten the transition from water to steam.
The heat transferred into the eggs (or whatever you are cooking) depends only on the temperature of the water, not on the vigor with which it is boiling. As a result, keeping the gas on high will generally have two effects: (1) wasting more gas by heating up the room more and turning more water into steam than necessary, and (2) increasing the chances that the eggs will be tossed around enough to crack. On the other hand, if you turn the gas so low that the water is no longer truly boiling, its temperature will drop below the boiling point, slowing the cooking process (and possibly even changing the end result - cooking is a complicated chemical process that relies on the right amount of heat being applied over the proper length of time).
Of course, there are cases where a recipe may call for a particular level of boiling, but my guess is this usually has to do with keeping the food from sticking to the pot or some such thing, with vigorous boiling replacing the need for constant stirring.
Pictures about "Water boiling and cooking time"
How long should it take to boil water?
Most health organizations, including the Center for Disease Control, recommend that you boil water vigorously for 1 minute up to elevations of 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) and 3 minutes at elevations higher than that.How long should it take to boil water on a stove?
It takes roughly 10-15 minutes to bring 1 liter of water on a gas or electric stove to a boil and a much shorter 2-3 minutes on an induction cooktop. An electric kettle heats the same amount of water in 2 1/2 minutes, and a microwave oven does so in 5-7 minutes.Boiling, Atmospheric Pressure, and Vapor Pressure
More answers regarding water boiling and cooking time
Answer 2
It will make no difference. Once the water reaches $T=100^\circ C = 373 K$ it will stay at that temperature. Water cannot go any further, while water vapor can! You could only cook your egs faster if you would cook them in a water vapor!
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: RODNAE Productions, Luke Barky, makafood, Pixabay