I mean...you shouldn't be drinking distilled water anyway. I mean you aren't going to actually become mineral deficient since we get most of those from our food (mmm salt), but it's costly to produce and already necessary for other practical purposes (like steam cleaners, irons, humidifiers, etc...).
This can happen to tap water and often has to do with the vessel you're heating it in. If the water vessel is too perfectly smooth (often glass) no nucleation sites will form which means the water can't form bubbles in which to boil.
Adding any microwave safe imperfection like a wooden dowel will usually prevent that from happening.
I believe distilled might be higher risk to do this because of the mineral impurities it doesn't have.
The most common way to avoid is just to use an old imperfect ceramic mug and avoid lab grade glass or really perfectly machine made cups. The jankier and more handmade the cup the safer it'll be.
It's especially dangerous because when you take the superheated water out with your fleshy hands it'll often disturb the water causing a flash boil over which can burn the shit out of the person.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 8h ago
Just don't use distilled water for that.
It does a weird thing, where it can become boiling temp, but it never bubbles. So it'll just blast you in the face when it's disturbed.