Everyday Objects Placed In a Microwave

Tom writes "Everyday objects can produce interesting effects when you stick them in a standard microwave. Grapes spark, matches create superheated plasma fireballs, mini lightning-bolts arc between sheets of aluminum foil, and soap both splits open and puffs up, creating a somewhat vulgar spurt of bubbly excrement that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. However, as cool as microwave experimentation can be, balls of plasma and the like are bad for both your eyes and your microwave, so it's probably best not to try these things at home. update This site apparently is behind a really nasty popup that I missed (yay Firefox) the first time through. You've been warned... here it is but given the overall rottenness of the pop-up, I guess I wouldn't bother. Some folks know no shame. My apologies to the readers.

Comments

Spam

[Salvance]

While the videos are pretty entertaining, there's a ridiculous amount of spam and popups (particularly on ie). After every video, I was taken to another site where it said I had to order a plasma screen TV just to watch the vid, uuggghhh.

Re:Spam

[jginspace]

Try YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microw ave

Re:Spam

[Joebert]

I was taken to another site where it said I had to order a plasma screen TV just to watch the vid

Well, we can't have you watching such entertaining videos on some inferior non-plasma tv now can we ?
Come on, this is Super Heated Plasma Fireballs we're talking about here, it's only fitting that they're watched on a vision re-production device capable of understanding the concept of Plasma, isn't it ?
Being a member of Slashdot, I expect you to be rather smart, hell, I bet you're A Nuke-u-lar Scientist, am I right ?
Well then, you more than most should understand that a screen capable of using Plasma, will be best for reproducing the effects of the video.
Do you remember early TV sets & the snow effect ?
Of course you do, what if I told you that if you buy this TV, you wouldn't even need to get that video ? You could just turn this puppy on & stare at the screen, BAM, instant Plasma video & you didn't even have to waste your time downloading a video off the internet.

So, will that be Visa or Mastercard ?

Re:Spam

[TCM]

*I*'m using Firefox with noscript and didn't get the spam/pop-ups/redirects. Allow Javascript only for wontonway.com and you're fine.

Food Fight

[Doc Ruby]

I take a ripe 1" cherry tomato, insert a wooden toothpick into about the center, and put it on high for about 1-2min. The tomato launches the toothpick across the microwave.

So then I take 20 1" cherry tomatoes, insert toothpicks, arrange them in ranks facing each other at the range of the tested shots, and cook my favorite "tomatoes battle royale".

I'd love to see someone video that to YouTube, maybe with some other characters inserted into the battlefield. Like grapes injected with rubbing alcohol, which will boil and burst faster than the watery tomatoes shoot.

Photocamera

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember one time when I was on a weekend drinking session in Belgium, one of my friends proposed that microwaves only heat up objects with water in it. So the digital photocamera should withstand 10 seconds of radiation... I was allready passed out at the moment and learned from the disaster the next day.

A few months later I decided to check whether the flashcard still worked. It did! After viewing the photo's and movies we made before frying the camera, we could remember a lot more about that night:P

Re:Photocamera

[Dun Malg]

one of my friends proposed that microwaves only heat up objects with water in it. So the digital photocamera should withstand 10 seconds of radiation

He was right on the first point, but utterly stupid to think that the only thing microwaves do is heat water. Microwaves induce electric currents in metal. If you microwave a complex enough electronic device, guaranteed something inside it is going to get a nasty, fatal overcurrent. This is one of the dangers of adult beverages. They make people forget their ignorance and come up with all sorts of terrible "logical" conclusions.

Instructions for superheated plasma fireballs...

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Microwave one of those Hungyman "Beef" Taco dinners with potato wedges for approx 10 minutes.
2. Eat said Hungryman dinner.
3. In approx 40-120 superheated plasma fireballs should start expressing themselves out your posterior.
4. Change underwear as needed.

That's Why the Internet Is So Great

[Anonymous Coward]

``However, as cool as microwave experimentation can be, balls of plasma and the like are bad for both your eyes and your microwave, so it's probably best not to try these things at home.''

That's why the Internet is so great. Other people run destructive experiments and publish about them, so I don't have to.

Microwave

[also-rr]

When I first read this story I was inspired. I tried placing a microwave inside a larger microwave.

There was a bizzare blue flash and I ended up with a tiny member of the royal family. I was surprised, I can tell you.

plasma

[cool_arrow]

I once burned a hole in the top of a microwave admiring a big plasma blob that was created with cigar smoke. Fortunately it was a MW at work which I owned. I've also exploded numerous lightbulbs (small explosions) in the MW, zapped many cd's etc. Turning a clear pyrex bowl upside down and slightly propped up on one side on the MW turntable will help contain the plasma blob until the bowl breaks or melts. Very cool, I mean hot.

Grapes

[waterford0069]

I get the metal objects sparking...

I get the skinned objects exploding...

I even sort of get the soap puffing...

What I don't get is the grapes sparking - what's going on here?

Re:Grapes

[Anonymous Coward]

Answer. Enjoy!

Re:Grapes

[ScrewMaster]

Haven't you ever heard of ... sparkling white wine?

SpamDot!?!!

[capsteve]

DO NOT CLICK THE STORY LINK!

DO NOT CLICK!

DO NOT CLICK!

DO NOT CLICK!

don't give jagbags like this guy the satisfaction actually steering traffic to his site.

video viewing requires some inane product registration. this guy is trying to get free product thru your clicks, and figures a high traffic generating site like /. will give him the clicks for free product.

what's up with that, tomcat7194@gmail.com?!?? run out of friends and family to sell out for your free ipod and mac mini, you gotta try the /. community? i think this kind of behavior will get your gmail account banned.

WTF! i can't believe CT would actually allow a submission like this to make it all the way thru...

come on CT, wake up, drink coffee, and kill this f*ckin' article! ./ get's abused enough, don't let it get abused with this kind of trash or people will think /. has jumped the shark!!!

Fun Mr Wizard experiment

[edwardpickman]

Place a six inch ball of pultonium wrapped in one inch of plactic expolsives in microwave. Heat on high until plutonium atoms fuse.

Re:Fun Mr Wizard experiment

[b0s0z0ku]

Place a six inch ball of pultonium wrapped in one inch of plactic expolsives in microwave. Heat on high until plutonium atoms fuse.

Better yet, take the ball of plutonium and form two hemispheres of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around it to fit closely. Put the ball in one hemisphere. Then, using a screwdriver as a spacer, lower the other hemisphere over the plutonium ball. Make sure not to slip. If you see a blue flash from Cerenkov radiation inside your eyeballs, write your will after you've stopped barfing.

(They actually did similar experiments at Los Alamos in the 40s. And, yes, the screwdriver did eventually slip. Not only once, but two people actually got "bit by the dragon."

-b.

2001 called...

[Klaidas]

They want their fun science back :)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microw ave+brainiac
Ah well. Slow news days happen, don't they?

Actually, it does work

[dereference]

Here's a much better description.

Web 0.2

[DJRikki]

obvious_joke_about_vintage_webpage++;

Links directly to WMV's

[HitByASquirrel]

http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/cd.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/chipbag.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/bulb.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/ornament.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/soap.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/matches.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/foil.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/egglow.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/lemon.wmv
http://www.wontonway.com/microwave/GRAPEMED.wmv

Google Ads + popups?

[JourneyExpertApe]

That's gotta be a violation of Google's terms of service.