Old-fashioned rice cookers are extremely clever

Technology Connections
12 HN recommenders · recommended in 10 months, 2020–2025
YouTube
3.2M views · 6 years ago · explainer · evergreen

Technology Connections' Alec Watson explains how a simple analog rice cooker works. When the water boils away the pot temperature rises above 100 degrees C, and a magnetic switch that loses its magnetism at a set temperature cuts the heat and drops the cooker to warm mode.

HN passes it around as the clear breakdown of how clever a dumb rice cooker really is, combining thermodynamics and magnetism in a very simple design.

“I started using the old-fashioned analogue rice cooker after watching Technology Connection's video on how they work.”
Design of everyday thingsIndustrial design
#ricecooker#productdesign#everydayobjects#mechanicaldesign#simplicity

21 comments from Hacker News

z
@zer00eyz2025 · in “The Trinary Dream Endures”
> weight/balance mechanism in a traditional "dumb" rice cooker These are far more interesting than that. Technology Connections YouTube channel did a great breakdown of how they really work: ▶ this video
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t
@thunderbong2024 · in “Technology Connections – Old-fashioned rice cookers are clever [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@morder2024 · in “Receive push notifications from your rice cooker”
▶ this video Great Technology Connections video about how it works.
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m
@mock-possum2024 · in “The Battle to Invent the Automatic Rice Cooker”
Time to pull out the link to Technology Connections’ excellent video on the subject: ▶ this video
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r
@rootbear2022 · in “Companies are buying washing machines to take the chips out and repurpose them”
It's a great channel. I was also fascinated by his rice cooker episode. I had no idea they were so clever, combining thermodynamics and the physics of magnetism. ▶ this video
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m
@malikNF2022 · in “Old-fashioned rice cookers are clever [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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t
@thunderbong2022 · in “Old-fashioned rice cookers are clever [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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T
@Tomte2021 · in “Old-fashioned rice cookers are extremely clever (2020)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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b
@belter2021 · in “Old-fashioned rice cookers are extremely clever”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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R
@Rendello2020 · in “Fuzzy logic rice cookers (2016)”
I started using the old-fashioned analogue rice cooker after watching Technology Connection's video on how they work. The principle is clever: liquids at boiling point stay at boiling point, since any additional heat energy is used to change their state from liquid to gas. When the temperature does rise above 100°C, that means there is no liquid left in the cooker, and so rice must be done. It then switches off the high heat and runs in "warm" mode. 1. ▶ this video
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s
@spaceflunky2020 · in “The battle to invent the automatic rice cooker”
The science behind a rice cooker is fascinatingly clever, yet painfully simple. In short, boiling water temperature plateaus due to the latent heat of vaporization. When the water is gone the temperature of the pot starts to rise. The rice cooker uses this principle to control the switch. The switch is held by magnet. When the pot finishes boiling the heat rises and exceeds the curie point of the magnet, which means the magnet ceases to be magnetic, and the (no longer) magnetic switch is released turning the rice cooker off. Here’s a great video explaining how it works. ▶ this video
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J
@JadeNB2020 · in “The Thinnest Paper in the World”
Have I got the channel for you! Technology Connections: link . My introduction was his rice-cooker video: ▶ this video .
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