A closer look
We like to think of boiling liquids as chaotic, bubbly messes, but physics has a weird obsessive-compulsive streak. When a shallow layer of fluid is heated from below, the temperature gradient forces the liquid into self-organizing convection currents called Bénard cells. Instead of boiling randomly, the fluid perfectly structures itself into a microscopic honeycomb lattice of hexagons, with hot liquid rising in the center and cool liquid sinking at the edges. It’s essentially your frying pan doing advanced geometry without being asked.
