Why can we boil water to make it safe to drink, but we can’t boil the “spoil” out of expired milk?
In: Chemistry
The reason is that it kills organisms that could infect you. The same is true for boiling spoiled milk but the difference is that chemicals other than water that were in the milk get changed into toxic compounds by these organisms that aren’t destroyed when boiled.
The danger with contaminated water is typically that there are dangerous organisms within it that could infect or otherwise harm you if consumed. Milk and other foods spoil because of organisms, but it isn’t the organisms themselves which are the entire problem. As the organisms eat and reproduce they expel waste products which are toxic, and while heat will kill the organisms it will not remove the toxins. Boiling spoiled milk will kill all the organisms within it but it won’t destroy the poisons they left behind.
Similarly boiling wouldn’t make poisoned water non-poisonous, but that isn’t usually the situation.
[deleted]
Well, when you boil water, the steam collected (which is still H20) is what’s left after all the hard chemicals are left behind. Milk is not water, so removing the H20 (which will be the only thing that happens if you boil it) just won’t do the same thing.
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