Does Distilled Water Boil/Evaporate? Mythbusters Examined

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The discussion centers on a Mythbusters episode claiming that distilled water does not boil, which raises questions about its evaporation properties. Participants clarify that the concept of superheating is relevant, explaining that distilled water can indeed boil under certain conditions, especially in smooth containers. The conversation suggests that the show's wording may have implied that distilled water is less likely to boil easily, rather than stating it doesn't boil at all. Additionally, the phenomenon of superheating can lead to explosive boiling when the water is disturbed. Overall, the thread highlights misconceptions about distilled water's boiling and evaporation characteristics.
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A couple of days ago I was watching the show Mythbusters, which I find the experiments to be kind of hokey, but they did an experiment and they stated that distilled water does not boil. Is this true, if so does this mean that it does not evaporate faster when heated?
 
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I doubt that they found that distilled water doesn't boil...

Can you find which episode it is from the list on here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythbusters (Scroll down to the very bottom see each season in detail)

Edit: I think what you are thinking of is superheating. If you put water in a very smooth container and microwave it, it will boil because there aren't any places for bubbles to form. Of course as soon as you disturb the liquid, it violently boils.

I guess they were testing to see if distilled water was at a greater risk to superheat than regular tap water.
 
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They must have said "Doesn't boil as easily" or something...
 
thanx that's quite interesting, you i think that they were talking about that, after a while it just exploded all over the microvave.
 

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