Things You Shouldn't Microwave
Sunday January 28, 2007
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| You can see some interesting phenonema using your microwave, but is it worth the risk? © Ronnie Bergeron | |
- CDs - Soooo pretty! The polymer coating makes the sparks. If you nuke a cd, you'll get an awesome sparkler-like display, but you run the risk of a fire. Obviously, the cd will never work again. I would presume the vapors from the burning polymer are toxic.
- Grapes - I don't think you can make raisins this way. Your grapes will ignite, even though they are mostly water. It's a decent way to see the state of matter known as plasma, but you can ruin your appliance once the water from the grapes evaporates.
- Toothpicks or Matches - This is another example of plasma or ball lightning that can destroy your appliance. If you absolutely have to see charged plasma, get yourself a plasma lamp.
- Soap - Ok, maybe you should try this one. You get a cascade of bubbles. Very cool, decent chance of microwave survival, plus the soap is already inside for clean-up. Note that Ivory™ was used, which is actual soap. Other brands may not work as well. Another interesting note: the bubbly cloud that results has been tested and remains 'soap'. Apparently when you microwave soap, the water boils and forms soap bubbles. Heat causes air in the bubbles to expand. When the microwave stops, the soap re-solidifies.
- Hot Peppers - My dad once sent me some dried hot peppers from his garden. He recommended nuking them for a few seconds to make sure they were dehydrated before storing them. Um... don't! The capsaicin (chemical that is 'hot') is volatile. Your eyes will sting, your throat will burn. Oh... and the peppers may catch fire. I don't have a video, since there is nothing to see. Don't microwave any chemical you wouldn't want released into the air. Don't microwave dry materials.
- (Dry) Kitchen Sponges - If you nuke a wet sponge for 2 minutes, it will disinfect it (though it will stink up your kitchen). If you nuke a dry sponge, it will ignite. The WebMD article doesn't state this, but they should have: be sure you rinsed any cleaners out of your sponge if you intend to microwave it.
- Lightbulb - Don't do it. Even worse than this incandescent bulb would be a fluorescent bulb, because that would release toxic mercury vapors. Yeah, it might look cool, but microwaving these represents a real health hazard. Mercury vapor doesn't float out your window and vanish. Even worse, a microwave usually is located near food or surfaces used to prepare food. Lead is another toxic element that can be released from microwaving a lightbulb.
Comments
I am really curious to know how the “don’t microwave a lightbulb” admonition came about, since it really has never occurred to me to try that at all.
It never would have occurred to me either, but when I was looking for work-safe video examples, I kept coming across lightbulb videos.
please dont dumb down explinations because you end up missing important details and confusing people when they hear the real explination. why i hate high school level science. use lay language but please dont simplify or skip details of what is actually going on in a process.
eg.
mirowaves dont exactly “input energy into molecules”, a microwave tranmsits radio waves which, due to the polarity of the molecules electrons, rotate the molecules in sync to the alternating magnetic polarity of the wave, creating friction. suplementary to this process, the electromagnetic properties of the wave, induce a current in conductive materials (such a water and other metals) which meets resistance in the food, this also creates suplemental heat. this is why CDs’ light up, because of the refelective aluminium coating causing arching sparks not like you said above, because of the polymer plastic, granted the reflective coating can sometimes be a polymer, but make the distinction, explain why it sparks, is this science or trivia entertainment?
with reagrds to the disinfecting your kitchen sponges, much better and simpler is to sit your sponge in a large mug (preferably preheated to near boiling temp), and fill with boiling water, let it sit for a couple minutes and you’ll have created the same effect with much less smell.