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Microwave Fun
Smitty825 writes "Have some spare time to kill? Want to be a scientist? Then try some Microwave Experiments! (Disclaimer...could be dangerous.)"
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And I thought puting metal objects in the microwave was the only way to have fun. That and my sister's new kitten.......
CMDRTACO CHECK YOUR EMAIL!
My sister-in-law works with the US Dept. of Agriculture. Her job consists primarily of zapping fruitfly maggots/larva with everything from lasers to 5000w microwaves. She also boils them, crushes them, melts them with acids, dessicates them with silica flakes then blows them away with huge fans.. you name it. Anything that can be done to kill the little doofers, she does. In bulk. They're grown by the thousands just for the purpose of dying in nasty ways.
I think the whole point is to figure out ways to remove them from crops without damaging the crops or using pesticides. She likes her job, though. The only problem is that burning fruitfly maggots smell not entirely unlike barbecue or popcorn, so she invariably leaves the lab hungry...
Are you a kid? Does your microwave oven belong to your parents? If so, then don't even THINK about trying any of these experiments. I'm serious. If I wreck my microwave oven, I can buy another. Also, I'm a professional electrical engineer. I know enough physics and RF effects to take correct safety precautions when I'm experimenting. But you don't know the precautions, so you should be smart: read and enjoy my writing, but don't duplicate my tests unless you grow up to become an electronics tech, engineer, etc., and buy your OWN microwave oven.
... ... ...
hmm familiar
Please try to keep Microwave experiments on topic.
Try to Learn from other people's Mistakes instead of Making your own.
Build a foil Protector cup for your reproductive organs before attempting these experiments!
--Im an oven mitt, not an engineer! (SLArbys Radio Commercial)
I'm a professional electrical engineer. I know enough physics and RF effects to take correct safety precautions when I'm experimenting.
How many times have we heard these words just before the loud ZAP! and inevitable flesh burning smell?
...where you can have fun with a microwave?
:) So, toying around with a microwave can not only be fun, it can also help saving the world (or a girl).
Something like "Maniac Mansion" and "Zack McKraken"...
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments
;) because I'd always wondered what would happen if a fluorescent tube was placed in a microwave oven. In theory the RF energy should have enough voltage to ignite the mercury vapor into a plasma, and the lamp should light. But standard ovens put out at least 500 watts, so the tiny fluorescent tube should light quite brightly, to say the least. I'd never before encountered a fluorescent tube which was short enough to fit in an oven. So, I pulled out the tube, stuck it in the oven, said "THEY'RE HEEEEEERE!" , and punched the ON switch. Sure enough, the kitchen was lit up by a bluewhite blaze of light coming from the front of the microwave oven. I only let it run for about 1 second, but this was enough to heat the fluorescent tube so it was too hot to touch.
This page is intended for an adult technical audience, and has a RSACi rating of V4. If your kids can see it, then you are not using an Internet Filter to block adult content.
Are you a kid? Does your microwave oven belong to your parents? If so, then don't even THINK about trying any of these experiments. I'm serious. If I wreck my microwave oven, I can buy another. Also, I'm a professional electrical engineer. I know enough physics and RF effects to take correct safety precautions when I'm experimenting. But you don't know the precautions, so you should be smart: read and enjoy my writing, but don't duplicate my tests unless you grow up to become an electronics tech, engineer, etc., and buy your OWN microwave oven.
Disclaimer: This information is presented for your information only. Anyone who tries to duplicate these demonstrations does so entirely at their own risk. There is a chance that you will damage your microwave oven. There is a chance that you will cause a fire. There is a chance that a heated object will explode. Heated water can unexpectedly burst into violent boiling. Messing with a microwave oven is stupid if you don't know what you're doing.
Microwave demos
Untried experiments
Links to other sites
DANGER: exploding coffeewater
Microwave oven myths
MAIN SITE: 'good stuff' page
They're Heeeeere!
Years ago I was living with roommates, and while working in the kitchen I noticed that the fluorescent light over the sink was about 8 inches long. A light went on in my brain
(Yeah yeah yeah, I know I'm reeeeeally old, and most young whippersnappers never saw all the ads for the movie "Poltergeist," where the young daughter looks at the screen of the misbehaving TV set and says "they're here." )
Cuppa burning plasma
Electric arcs can develop inside a microwave. The strength of the efield inside the oven chamber can be described as "high voltage." Once an arc has been triggered, it will absorb energy from the microwave field. It can break loose and fly around the oven like a "ball lightning." One way to trigger this effect is to place a lighted candle inside the oven. Stick some short pieces of charred toothpick into the top of the candle to provide some carbon "seeds" for initial arc attachment.
A wandering electric arc can be captured in an upsidedown container, J.L Naudin has some GIFs of this effect on his site. I tried it with a Pyrex cup measure and it works! The cup became quite hot after only a few seconds of contact with the "plasma", so perhaps you shouldn't run it for very long.
I supported the inverted cupmeasure on three small paper cups. My candle was about 1in tall and 1in wide. I stuck several pieces of charred toothpicks into the top, lit the candle, then placed it below the glass container and shut the door.
The oven ran for a short time before the candle flame began creating eruptions of plasma. (If yours doesn't work, move the candle to another spot in order to locate a "hotspot.") Some of the plasma flickers blew away because of the fan, but finally one rose into the glass mug. The "plasma pool" fills half the cup and makes a loud 120Hz buzzing noise. It initially is dull orange, but then it chang
7680 MB Disk,192 GB Transfer,
The above Anonymous Coward is correct. We have read the parent post before. The story was the Worst Jobs In Science article, and the specific post was here.
So who's the imposter?
Whoever designed level 61 in Frozen Bubble is a sadistic bastard.
Taken word for word, too.
Speaking of spare time and microwaves, my old roommate discovered something pretty cool to do with a microwave. Put a CD into it for a little while, and (insert cool pyrotechnics show at this point) the output is that it causes the metal layer in the CD to get thousands of little cracks through it in a spiderweb type of pattern.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
They did not mention my favorite (and easy to do at work).
Take a grape and cut it ALMOST is half (both halves still connected by skin). Put the two halves down on a plate (wet side down). Microwave until you see sparks and fire between the two halves.
This is almost as fun as the electric pickle, but with only one-tenth the smell.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
I once heard about a woman whose dog got wet and she put it in the microwave to dry it off. Well... It kinda blew up. Then she tried to sue the microwave company for not having a disclaimer saying not to put dogs in the microwave.
DUKEY!
The aftermath? A charred CD in the garbage can, stinking up our hotel floor. Their microwave, soaking in their bathtub (supposedly to douse the flames).
Moral of the story? Microwaves are fun, but be careful what you put in them.
Goo goo g'joob.
For articles like these.
Here is one possible icon...
they don't even include (at least not on casual glance) how one can calculate the speed of light using a microwave and a plate of marshmellows. that's one i'd really like to attempt some time when i'm bored enough.
my worst microwave moment: I have a couple lizards (leopard geckos to be precise). in their cage, i had a piece of a bark they were using as a hiding spot. i was washing the bark one day and wanted to dry it in the microwave (not the brightest idea, but whatever). Apparently a cricket had hidden itself somewhere inside one of the porous spaces. Long story short, when I nuked it, about 10 s into the run, i hear a brief high pitched whine, increasing frequency and then a splat noise. apparently i boiled the cricket from the inside out, and like a pressure cooker with a not so well attached lid, it exploded.
a twelve-year-old girl apparently figured out how to make a jawbreaker explode
Pop Goes the Hamster and Other Fun Microwave Games.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Back before litigation reared its ugly head, Scietific American had some swell projects. These included:
- 20 Watt CO2 laser
- 6ft metal-walled solid fuel (aluminum & sulfur) rocket
- atom splitter (400 keV electrons could make Lithium atoms radioactive)
- homemade X-ray source
Ah! Those were the good old days.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
Another Stolen Post
Rack 'em up, Ophidian Jones.
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
Slashdot loves microwaves.
Perhaps its time for as "microwave" section?
Have you read my journal today?