> Interesting. On my oven, it does.

It's broken then.  In a cold oven, any temperature setting significantly 
above room temperature should cause the maximum size flame to be used.  Once 
the oven gets to that setting the thermostat should then regulate the gas 
flow to keep that temperature.

> [There is some kind of sensor that detects whether the gas has ignited. 
> When you turn the oven on, it lets in a tiny amount of gas and ignites it. 
> Then, after a few seconds, the flame suddenly grows to full size. 
> Thereafter it remains at that size until you turn the oven off.]

That is a different system, that is there to stop the gas coming out full 
whack until the oven knows that it's actually ignited.  Otherwise if there 
is a fault (and the gas is not ignited) then you might end up filling your 
house with gas, which is not such a good idea.

> OOC, any idea how much energy it takes to warm up 0.25 m^2 of air from 


The specific heat capacity of air is roughly 1 Joule per gram per degree 
Kelvin.  So I make that about 45 kJ.

You probably want to heat up some of the metal inside the oven too...

> (And how much energy is released when you burn some methane...)

Googling "energy density methane" seems to give 55 MJ / kg.

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