Imagine how fast you can make pasta!

By using terahertz radiation in free-electron lasers, scientists from the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science are able to make water molecules instantly vibrate significantly. This heavy vibration causes the boiling of water. Not only does this cause water to boil, but it causes water to boil in less than a trillionth of a second (trillionth meaning 1,000,000,000,000). Why do I feel like people wouldn't respond well to using radiation to boil water? Radiation and water. Not the best first impression!

Though this method has been created, it has not been physically implemented yet. When it is conducted, scientists expect it to raise the temperature of water by 600 degrees Celsius in a trillionth of a second.

When I read of the capabilities of this new method of heating water, I thought of applications which could help society. Like what if this technology could be used to revolutionize geothermal energy, which is energy that relies on steam to produce an environmental friendly source of electricity? Or what if this technology could be used on large amounts of water in desalination plants to purify water in communities across the world?

Then I read this method can only be used on a nanoliter at a time. Only one nanoliter. Are you kidding? Is there some way we could disregard the "nano-" prefix? Can't even warm enough water for a bath tub... or a cup of hot chocolate....or even a spoon of hot chocolate....

Still there is promise for the use of this water in chemical reactions since water is a reagent which plays a dynamic role in chemical and biological reactions in starting the reactions and forming compounds. Scientists hope this technology will prove to be vital in further observing thermal reactions and how other substances dissolve in water. Read more in the article: http://www.chemistrytimes.com/research/Ultrafast_heating_of_water_--_This_pot_boils_faster_than_you_can_watch_it.asp

It's interesting to think of how a basic knowledge of the states of matter leads to discoveries such as this! For simply if you add energy or heat in the form of wavelengths, particles of a substance, in this case water, will move faster. This translates to an increase in temperature and thus the boiling water.  Though this discovery can only heat a nanoliter of water (yes I know, the amount of disappointment is overwhelming) maybe one day this method of heating water can be used on a much larger scale. Please, anything bigger than a measly nanoliter! Thus let's all eagerly wait for the day when we can finally make pasta in a trillionth of a second! If only a nanoliter worth of pasta was big enough for a meal...