Hacker News Reader

But you could make small pits on the bottom of a pot with a metal drill bit, couldn't you? And this would increase the surface area contacting the water and heating it, right?

View on HN

They're not really pits, they're microscopic tubes that stick up from the surface. The point of them is to act like a chimney for steam to rise from instead of sticking to the surface of the pan where they insulate the water from the pan itself. That said, they also probably add surface area just from being a bunch of tubes sticking up into the water.

I still support you in your endeavors of dimpling cookware. There are worse ways to kill a few hours than doing science in the kitchen.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com