A scientist has warned against a new and unusual social media trend that has seen people essentially trying to deep-fry water in hot oil.
Before we go any further, it should go absolutely without saying that you should not be attempting to try this at home.
Made using a chemical compound called calcium alginate, which is a gelatine-like substance made from aqueous calcium chloride and aqueous sodium alginate that binds the water in a liquid membrane, deep-fried water first surfaced on the internet back in 2016.
Its earliest online existence can be traced back to chef Jonathan Marcus, who coated the water in flour, Panko crumbs and eggs, and fried 12 drops in peanut oil. And now, years later, in a world that has completely changed, more people are picking up where Marcus left off.
Dr Christoper Cramer from the American Chemical Society has slammed the trend as “somewhere between insane and suicidal” as he urged people not to attempt it.
In an interview with Daily Mail, Cramer explained that the problem is that hot oil gets so much hotter than the boiling point of water.
"The way deep-frying works, of course, is that the 'nugget' is immersed in hot oil – typically about 204°C or warmer. The exposed breading fries quickly to a crispy texture, while the heat works its way inward to a cooler centre, raising the interior's temperature more slowly,” he said.
Cramer also revealed that water boils and turns into steam at around 100°C and in doing so it expands in volume by around 1 500 times nearly instantly, which could break the nugget of water releasing the remaining volume into the oil.
“That's basically an explosion in a hot vat of oil and heaven helps you when that oil begins to rain down on the gas flame or hot electric burner,” he said.