The main parts of a basic electric rice cooker are the outer pot, inner pot, the heating element, lid, and button controls. The outer pot contains the heating element. The inner pot, where the uncooked rice goes, fits inside of the outer pot. The heating element heats up metal coils in the outer pot to make the inner pot hot. The lid keeps the steam from escaping. This builds up pressure. The heating element also contains temperature sensors that detect how hot the water inside of the inner pot is. When you put the water and rice in the inner pot, put on the lid, and slide it into the outer pot, you can turn the cooker on to start the cooking. The heating element heats up the water until it boils. That creates steam or water vapor! The heating element senses that the water is at its boiling point and turns off the heat. After that, the rice cooks in the pressure of the steam. There is a little hole in the top of the lid that lets out a little bit of steam. This is because if too much pressure builds up, the cooker may explode! This is how a electric rice cooker works! It is more efficient than a pressure cooker because it does not require a stove and the electric cooker is more portable. The electric cooker also cooks rice faster! Pressure cookers use the pressure of water vapor or steam trapped inside of a closed container to cook food like rice. As the water inside of the cooker starts to boil, it turns from liquid to a gas. This gas is called water vapor. As the water vapor rises, the cap of the pressure cooker prevents the gas from leaving the container. Since gases rise, the gas tries to push out of container. When the pressure becomes extremely high, the top cap of the cooker loosens and the gas come out as a big puff of steam. Pressure also creates heat. That heat cooks the food with a rising temperature. Also, foods like rice need to get soggy so they can get cooked. The steam makes the rice wet and the heat helps cook it. The difference is that pressure cookers use pressure inside of the pot created by the stove to cook food, but the electric cooker uses electricity to cook food faster!
