question: Why does placing a wooden spoon across the top of a pot of boiling pasta prevent it from boiling over?
comment: Boiling pasta produces bubbles. These bubbles will be pushed in a column out of the pot by the bubbles under it. Once they are above a certain height above the pot, the column of bubbles fall apart and slide onto the stove. By putting something on top of the pot, a large part of that column of bubbles will pop and the column of bubbles will not reach the height where it will slide down on the stove.
passages: Section::::Ancient Greece.
  
  In his "Pneumatics", (chapter 31) Philo of Byzantium, a Greek engineer and writer on mechanics, describes an escapement mechanism, the earliest known, as part of a washstand. A counterweighted spoon, supplied by a water tank, tips over in a basin when full releasing a pumice in the process. Once the spoon has emptied, it is pulled up again by the counterweight, closing the door on the pumice by the tightening string. Remarkably, Philon's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapement mechanisms were already integrated in ancient water clocks.
  
  Section::::Eighteenth century.
   In his "Pneumatics" (chapter 31) Philo describes an escapement mechanism, the earliest known, as part of a washstand. A counterweighted spoon, supplied by a water tank, tips over in a basin when full releasing a pumice in the process. Once the spoon has emptied, it is pulled up again by the counterweight, closing the door on the pumice by the tightening string. Remarkably, Philo's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapements mechanism were already integrated in ancient water clocks.
  
  Section::::Life and works.:Mathematics.
   A spoon is similarly useful in processing jelly, sugar and syrup. A test sample of jelly taken from a boiling mass may be allowed to slip from a spoon in a sheet, in a step called "sheeting". At the "crack" stage, syrup from boiling sugar may be dripped from a spoon, causing it to break with a snap when chilled. When boiled to 240 °F. and poured from a spoon, sugar forms a filament, or "thread". Hot syrup is said to "pearl" when it forms such a long thread without breaking when dropped from a spoon.
   The earliest liquid-driven escapement was described by the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium (3rd century BC) in his technical treatise "Pneumatics" (chapter 31) as part of a washstand. A counterweighted spoon, supplied by a water tank, tips over in a basin when full, releasing a spherical piece of pumice in the process. Once the spoon has emptied, it is pulled up again by the counterweight, closing the door on the pumice by the tightening string. Remarkably, Philo's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapement mechanisms were already integrated in ancient water clocks.
   Today, wooden spoons in western cultures are generally medium to large spoons used for mixing ingredients for cooking or baking. They may be flat or have a small dip in the middle.
  
  Before electric mixers became common, wooden spoons were often used to cream together butter and sugar in recipes such as shortbread or Victoria sponge cake.
   BULLET::::3. The two spoons are held back to back on either side of the right hands index finger, the tips of the spoon handles are held lightly with the little and ring fingers the spoons are then hit down to the leg, up to the inside of the left hand, left thumb and index finger hold lightly and let both handles slip through to get several spoon sounds in one up down movement, spoon tips are allowed to skip over several left hand fingers or folds of the left sleeve to get a repetitive roll. This is the most popular method when sitting.
   BULLET::::3. Castanets style, two in each hand one spoon held concave-side against the palm held down by the thumb, one between ring and middle fingers with finger tips in the concave side balancing the handle. They can be hit to each other at the convex sides by gripping with the middle and ring fingers.
   Wooden spoons can be treated to protect from cold liquid absorption with coconut or mineral oil. Edible drying oils such as hempseed oil, walnut oil, and flax oil are used to create a more durable finish. For best results, drying oils should be given adequate time to polymerize after application before the spoon is used. Other vegetable oils should be avoided because they will undergo rancidification and leech into food during use. If the wood grain rises up after boiling or washing, a light sanding and application of coconut oil will prevent the spoon from becoming fuzzy and harboring bacteria.
   They are still used for stirring many different kinds of food and beverages, especially soups and casseroles during preparation, although they tend to absorb strong smells such as onion and garlic. Wooden spoons are generally preferred for cooking because of their versatility. Some cooks prefer to use wooden spoons when preparing risotto because they do not transfer heat as much as metal spoons. Unlike metal spoons, they can also be safely used without scratching non-stick pans. This is useful when making dishes such as scrambled eggs.
   The spoon's flattened bowl and thin edge aids scooping a thin layer of sauce from a plate without resorting to tipping the plate; the notch in the bowl is variously claimed to allow oil or fat to drain away from the sauce, or to be a reference to the notch in a fish knife.
  
  Originally invented in France at the restaurant Lasserre in 1950 (chef René Lasserre) as the "cuillère à sauce individuelle" (individual sauce spoon) and originally found mainly in France, French sauce spoons are increasingly popular in high-end restaurants elsewhere.
  
  Section::::References.
   Among many urban legends related to the effect of ebullioscopic increase, one of them leads to adding salt when cooking pasta only after water has started boiling. The misconception is that since the water boils at a higher temperature, food will cook faster. However, at the approximate concentration of salt in water for cooking (10 g of salt per 1 kg of water, or 1 teaspoon per quart), the ebullioscopic increase is approximately 0.17 °C (0.31 °F), which will arguably make no practical difference for cooking, although salt may add to flavors.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Colligative properties
  
  BULLET::::- Freezing point depression
   Spoons are also widely used in cooking and serving. In baking, batter is usually thin enough to pour or drop from a spoon; a mixture of such consistency is sometimes called "drop batter”. Rolled dough dropped from a spoon to a cookie sheet can be made into rock cakes and other cookies, while johnnycake may be prepared by dropping spoonfuls of cornmeal onto a hot greased griddle.
   BULLET::::1. The handle of one is taken between the long finger and ring finger, fingertips into the concave part, The Concave part of the second spoon is leaned against the base of the thumb in a back to back position with the first spoon. This is the most popular method used mostly with two spoons in each hand, hands up, dancing. Closing the fist clashes the pairs of spoons to each other. Sometimes the tips of the spoon handles in either hand are brushed against each other to get a different sound.
   Section::::Chapter 17.
  
  "The science of bubbles"
   Section::::Other references.
   Section::::Chapter 19.
  
  "Above (and beyond) the periodic table"
   Section::::Chapter 7.
  
  "Competitive elements: Extending the table, expanding the cold war"
   To make a spoon the traditional by way of handforging, a bar of silver is marked up to the correct proportions for the bowl and handle.
   Used for stirring, a spoon is passed through a substance with a continued circular movement for the purpose of mixing, blending, dissolving, cooling, or preventing sticking of the ingredients. Mixed drinks may be "muddled" by working a spoon to crush and mix ingredients such as mint and sugar on the bottom of a glass or mixer. Spoons are employed for mixing certain kinds of powder into water to make a sweet or nutritious drink.
  
  A spoon may also be employed to toss ingredients by mixing them lightly until they are well coated with a dressing.
   Section::::Chapter 18.
  
  "Tools of ridiculous precision"
   Spoon (musical instrument)
  
  Spoons can be played as a makeshift percussion instrument, or more specifically, an idiophone related to the castanets. They are played by hitting one spoon against the other.
  
  Section::::Techniques.
   Section::::Chapter 2.
  
  "The fathers of the periodic table"
  
  In this chapter, the author focuses on the relationships between carbon, silicon, and germanium. He explains how carbon is the backbone of amino acids and the building blocks to everything. He discusses that because of carbon, amino acids all stick together. Then, he describes the carbon element and how it wants to fill its outer energy level with eight electrons so it attaches to four atoms since carbon already has four atoms.
   Section::::Chapter 16.
  
  "Chemistry way, way below zero"
   Nibbles now launches an all-out attack: he bends back a knife handle to launch a pie; using the string between the turkey legs he slingshots a candle; and cutting a cork off a champagne bottle, it begins to rocket at Tom, ultimately making Tom and the room into a terrible mess. A white surrender flag comes up from the pile of dishes Tom has fallen under.
   BULLET::::4. One spoon held concave-side against the palm, and handle jammed tight under the wrist watch belt, another in between ring and middle fingers of the left hand hitting the latter castanet style, and a third spoon in the right hand hitting both spoons in the left hand, drum stick style.
  
  Section::::American folk music.
  