I can tell you that a watched pot does, in fact, boil.

I watched it with some interest today. It starts out doing nothing. Then little bubble show up on the surface and they dance. They are attracted to one another, they spin and attract more then pop. This went on for five minutes.

Then bigger bubbles started to appear. They moved to the surface and their dance was not so agreeable. When two bubbles met they became one instead of moving on to another partner. The new bigger bubble would keep absorbing new partners until it couldn’t hold anymore then pop. This too went on for five minutes.

Eventually, instead of coming to the surface individually, columns developed. These were moving so fast that you couldn’t see anything happening, just a gentle vibration on the surface.

Then the real magic happened, the bubbles left altogether and the surface was rolling and roaring.

I dumped the pasta in and that was the end of the show.