Stability of Boiling Regimes

This lecture explains the instability of the descending branch of Nukiyama's curve in transition boiling, focusing on the stability of this regime under fixed heat flux conditions. The instructor discusses the wire energy balance, the relationship between heat flux and temperature variation, and the implications of positive and negative slopes in the curve. Through examples and analogies like the inverted pendulum, the lecture illustrates how small perturbations can lead to stable or unstable equilibriums. The instructor also mentions a historical experiment by Drew and Miller in 1937 that demonstrated the existence of the branch. The lecture concludes by hinting at upcoming topics on boiling regimes, stability conditions, and predicting heat flux values.