Pressure cooker design physics

Question

A pressure cooker with weight on its needle valve is heated until the water boils.

a) What will happen if the needle Valve sticks?

 

Answer 1

Depends on whether it sticks open or closed...

 

Open - water continues to boil and escape from a (now) non-pressure cooker. :-)

Closed - water boils and continues to build pressure (increased pressure = higher boiling point) in the cooker until catastrophic failure... :(