by JH 17 Replies latest jw friends
Please don't put metallic objects in your microwave
My sister once put a tea kettle in the microwave...
Also, has anyone ever tried putting a compact disc in the microwave? Too cool!! Just do it for less than 10 seconds... And use one of those AOL CDs or one you don't care about destroying.
has anyone ever tried putting a compact disc in the microwave?
Yes I have ! It is so cool . It looks like a Bad science fiction movie effect .Lots o fun ......second only to small animals and vermin.
NwS
LOL NWS...yep, it's very cool. The CD stinks afterwards though.
My sister once put a tea kettle in the microwave...
So that's where the JWs got their "dangers of aluminum cookware" routine!!
I've had this happen before. It didn't blow up in my face though, thank dog. I tossed a teabag in and it blew up all over the microwave.
I'm more careful about it now.
I was having a hard time believing this, and so went to snopes.com, which confirmed it. (I did a search using 'microwave' and 'water'). Sorry; don't have the URL.
| Claim: Consumers need to be cautious that water boiled in a microwave oven can suddenly "explode." Status: True. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]
Origins: Huh? In a nutshell, yes, water can "explode" in this fashion. However, it takes near perfect conditions to bring this about, thus "exploding water" is not something the average hot beverage drinker who would otherwise now be eyeing his microwave with trepidation need fear. Odds are, you'll go through life without ever viewing this phenomenon first-hand, and if you're one of the rare few who does get to see it, you will likely not be harmed by the experience (that would take you standing right over the cup at the instant it happens and the liquid bolting up and hitting your skin). The e-mailed warning is a model of non-specificity (no names, date, or locale; only the detail that the "victim" was 26 years old, presumably to enforce the idea that this accident could not be blamed on a child's typical lack of caution), leaving us able to address only its theoretical aspects. Unfortunately, our eyes glaze over whenever we have to write about science topics, so we'll just note that a bunch of other science-type people think it's plausible, although the phenomenon isn't nearly as common as the message cited above might make it sound: In an article in New Scientist, Richard Barton wrote: A portion of the water in the cup is becoming superheated ? the liquid temperature is actually slightly above the boiling point, where it would normally form a gas. In this case, the boiling is hindered by a lack of nucleation sites needed to form the bubbles . . . I imagine that by keeping the cup still and microwaving for a long time, one could blow the entire contents of the cup into the interior of the microwave as soon as you introduced any nucleation sites. It is this sometimes explosive rate of steam production that means you should take great care when using a microwave oven. From the How Things Work web site: In general, leaving a spoon in a cup of coffee or bowl of oatmeal isn't going to cause any trouble at all. I do it all the time. In fact, having a metal spoon in the liquid may reduce the likelihood of superheating the liquid, a dangerous phenomenon that occurs frequently in microwave cooking. Superheated liquids boil violently when you disturb them and can cause serious injuries as a result. From the Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments web site: Things are different in a microwave oven. The water gets hot but the container usually does not. There are no "boiling-bubbles" triggered by a hot metal pot. Without those bubbles to cool it, the temperature of the water rises far higher than 100C. We call this "superheated water." Superheated water is just waiting for some sort of trigger which will let bubbles form and allow boiling to commence. If the water becomes hot enough, a few bubbles will appear, but these quickly rise and burst, and the water isn't cooled much at all. In the microwave oven, even if your mug of water is bubbling slightly, don't trust it, since it's temperature has risen so high above 100C that bubbles are appearing spontaneously. If some unwitting victim should pour a soluble powder into the superheated water, this will carry thousands of tiny air bubbles into the water. Each of these micro bubbles expands into a 1cm steam bubble, and the result is a huge "explosion" of hot froth. It's just like dumping ice cream into root beer, but the froth can be so violent that the hot water sprays into the air. If you're really worried about this happening to you, follow the advice and leave some non-metallic object (such as a wooden spoon or stir stick) in the cup when you boil water in the microwave. It may not be necessary, but it won't hurt anything either. Peace of mind rarely comes so cheaply. |
bebu
I got rid of my microwave oven several years ago, before this article came out, as a precautionary health measure. Some of the reasons are covered here.
water and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer for but he told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer shut the oven off, he removed the cup from the oven. As he looked into the cup he noted that the water was not boiling but instantly the water in the cup "blew up" into his face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand but all the water had flew out into his face due to the buildup of energy. His whole face is blistered and he has 1st and 2nd degree burns to his face which may leave scarring. He also may have lost partial sight in his left eye.