Why doesn't water boil in a hot (over 250 degrees) oven?!
Answers: When I put a pan of water in a conventional oven set for baking at 300-450 degrees, the water never appears to boil even though it is clearly over 212 degrees F. What's the explanation for this apparent anomaly?
Your super heating the water. If you use a pan IE: Pyrex, it has a smooth surface and doesn't have any scratches in it for bubbles to form. Unlike a pot on the stove top that has uneven or a scratched bottom. The same thing will happen with a coffee cup in the microwave. It will boil if something is put in it like salt or anything to form bubbles. Don't do it after the water is superheated or you could severely burn yourself.
Just guessing but I would think it would evaporate first.
You're not leaving it in long enough. You have to give the water enough time to reach 212. Either that or your oven is broken.
The amount of water has something to do with it. Water has a high specific heat. This means that it takes a great deal of energey to changes the tmeperature of water. not to mention that when it is in a large amount the energy tends to either dissipate or be negated by the lower temperatures in the water. It also takes an extra bit of energy even as it passes 212 F to change it from a liquid to a gas.
It takes time for all fo that energy to be transferred. If you left the pot at 213 F for a while it would all turn to gas, but it would take a while. With the burner hotter than 300 it tranfers more energy and makes the process quicker, but it still will not be instantaneous. It would take some serious heat energy to flashboil a pot of water.