On Sun, 25 Dec 2016 23:14:48 +0000, Tim Streater
wrote:

In article , bert wrote:

In article , T i m
writes

How much hotter does a kettle of water get if the thermostat gets
stuck on and the water continues boiling? If it doesn't get any
hotter, where / how is that surplus energy being dissipated?

Didn't you pay any attention at all in your science lessons?
At normal atmospheric pressure water boils at 100 degrees - period.

It can't get any hotter than 100C at sea-level pressures until all the
water has boiled away. The extra energy being put in is what is needed
to boil the water off - quite a lot of energy is needed for that
purpose.

Quite, so, *if* an element was kettling and *if* that energy wasn't
being recovered before escaping the closed system, then increasing the
surface area of the element might improve the situation.

Loads of 'ifs' there of course but still a potential answer to a 'just
wondering' type question. ;-)

Cheers, T i m