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Everyday Objects Placed In a Microwave 205

Posted by CmdrTaco from the works-for-mythbusters dept.
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.
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Everyday Objects Placed In a Microwave More

Everyday Objects Placed In a Microwave

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  • alt.ftsoj (Score:4, Funny)

    by suso ( 153703 ) * on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:40AM (#16904264) Journal
    What? No kitty cat?
  • I really doubt it. Care to reword that?

  • Spam (Score:5, Informative)

    by Salvance ( 1014001 ) * on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:44AM (#16904292) Homepage Journal
    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 (Score:5, Funny)

      by Joebert ( 946227 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:00PM (#16904402) Homepage
      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: (Score:3, Funny)

        by tylernt ( 581794 )
        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 ?
        So... what if yout put a plasma TV in a microwave?

        The universe as we know it might implode.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by Joebert ( 946227 )
          The universe as we know it might implode.

          Perhaps, but not in the sense I believe you're thinking of.
          You see, I payed alot of money for this State Of The Art Plasma TV, actually, I'll be paying for it about the same length of time I'll be paying for my house when you figure in intrest & fees.
          So yes, if you put it in the microwave, the universe as you know it, will cease to exist, aka, implode. :)

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by BravoFourEcho ( 581460 )
      Don't have that problem in Firefox 2. Then again, it might have something to do with the hosts list I grab from here [someonewhocares.org], too. But I'm betting on Firefox, since I don't gat "Page cannot b displayed."

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by jcutting ( 51579 )
      If you are using IE7, temporarily change the pop-up blocker settings to High - it blocks everything, and you just get to the video pages when you click the various links - not one pop-up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ms1234 ( 211056 )
      So how many plasma tv:s do you have now?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )
      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.

      On Opera 9 here, no pop-ups, no ads, no redirects to a plasma tv site. The only thing I've seen getting through are the CSS ads where the ad is simply another layer in the CSS, otherwise it's smooth sailing.
    • No pop ups with FF2 with adblocker. Too many (> 0) pop ups with IE7. I also use Spybot Search and Destroy's 'inoculate' feature which redirects questionable URLs to local host (in my XP box's hosts file).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mrmeval ( 662166 )
      The domain admin is a loser with an aol email address.
    • I didn't see any of that crap, but then while the videos went thru the motions of loading, they didn't play.

      Maybe thats a firefox advantage?

      --
      Cheers, Gene

  • Food Fight (Score:5, Funny)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:45AM (#16904298) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by grumling ( 94709 )
      I'd love to see someone video that to YouTube

      So why don't you do it? You have the vision already, just need a day or so to shoot it.

      • I'm too lazy to setup, video and submit it. But not lazy enough to give away this hilarious idea that I've already tested.

        Thanks for the encouragement, but it'll probably take months before I have the time to spend a half-day having a blast with this little feature.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by kfg ( 145172 )
          . . .it'll probably take months before I have the time to spend a half-day having a blast with this little feature.

          Prioritize, Dude. Prioritize!

          KFG

  • Photocamera (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:47AM (#16904314)
    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 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dun Malg ( 230075 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @02:41PM (#16905482) Homepage
      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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zaatxe ( 939368 )
      ...one of my friends proposed that microwaves only heat up objects with water in it

      Not only water, it also heats fat. I'm not pretty sure at the moment, but I think it heats fat faster than water.

  • Instructions for superheated plasma fireballs... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:49AM (#16904328)
    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.

  • Finally... for nerds...stuff that matters... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:50AM (#16904342)
    I'm tired of all the Microsoft/Novell stuff, NASA going to asteroids, the latest PS3 updates, etc.
    FINALLY... information that matters to ME in such a way that the whole Britney/Fed-Ex stuff seems to matter to everyone in the US.

    (and in case you think I'm being sarcastic and mod me -1 Troll... no, I'm serious...I am very excited about an article about putting various things in Microwaves...I like the patterns it makes on CDs, and I like the electrical storm that the "split grape" shows)
    (and yeah, after Dave Barry mentioned toasters & pop-tarts...I did that TOO...my wife was not happy)
    (now if only I could get my hands on some liquid Oxygen for the barbeque)
    • I think it would have been more rewarding if they would have answered questions like "why did the grapes have an electrical storm?" or "what was the soap like after it got cooled?" Most of the stuff is self-explanitory, but without supplemental information, I started to get bored after the first few videos. While it was fun, it just wasn't nerdy enough.

  • That's Why the Internet Is So Great (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:50AM (#16904344)
    ``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.
    • No, no, no... as everyone who has seen Avenue Q knows, the Internet is really, really great... for porn!
    • ``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.''
      Anyone care to explain why this is bad for a microwave?

      I mean... as long as the microwaves aren't being reflected back at the magnetron, what's the big problem with creating plasma in a cup?

  • Microwave (Score:5, Funny)

    by also-rr ( 980579 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:52AM (#16904348) Homepage
    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.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by NormalVisual ( 565491 )
      And now you can really put Prince Albert in a can.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by WilliamSChips ( 793741 )
      Don't you know? The Royal Family are WEREWOLVES!

    • Re:Microwave (Score:4, Funny)

      by horati0 ( 249977 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @01:13PM (#16904864) Journal
      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.

      David Lynch called. He wants the idea for his next movie back.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by multisync ( 218450 )
      There was a bizzare blue flash and I ended up with a tiny member of the royal family


      That's just Charles, shrunk down to tampon size for Camilla
    • With apologies to Steven Wright:

      I put instant coffee in the microwave, and time ran backwards.

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

      Malkovich.
      Malkovich malkovich malkovich?
      Malkovich!
      Malkovich malkovich malkovich malkovich malkovich malkovich.
      Malkovich malkovich?

  • fun but dangerous (Score:2, Interesting)

    by crankshot999 ( 975406 )
    get a casette tape and cheap mini player stick both in the microwave and play the tape. the tape turns cool colors and then the batteries explode!

  • IS IT STILL 1995? (Score:3, Funny)

    by quonsar ( 61695 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @11:55AM (#16904364) Homepage
    is Mr. T done eating my balls?

  • plasma (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cool_arrow ( 881921 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:06PM (#16904434)
    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.

    • CDs are great (Score:3, Interesting)

      by kaan ( 88626 )
      I used to zap CDs in the microwave, both for the show (it's cool to watch) and the results (the cd looks cool afterward). I was one of the few people who actually looked forward to a new AOL sign-up cd.

      I haven't nuked a cd in years, mostly because it smells awful. But if anyone out there hasn't tried it, you should, and make sure you open your windows and get a fan, and be prepared for a smelly kitchen for a day or so. It's very cool to watch a cd inside a microwave - for a brief moment you'll see a wave of

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Gonoff ( 88518 )

        I actually did this at work last week. Someone brought me a couple of CDRs to destroy (they had confidential data.

        I was feeling a bit blue so I decided to cheer myself up with some pretty effects. 2 seconds does not set off the fire alarms but I agree about the smell!

      • make sure you open your windows and get a fan, and be prepared for a smelly kitchen for a day or so.

        Or just take your microwave outside.

  • Braniac has been doing this for ages.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Channard ( 693317 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:07PM (#16904438) Journal
    Not the superman villain but UK explosive science show 'Braniac: Science Abuse' - they regularly stick stuff in Microwaves, as well as do other things like demolish safes with tanks etc. It's a great show - here are the Microwave clips on Youtube - http://tinyurl.com/y6oan8 [tinyurl.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MadEE ( 784327 )
      After watching he Newton's Cradle I am convinced that these guys are frauds.
      • What the heck caused the secondary explosion?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MadEE ( 784327 )
          I am no pyro tech (but I am a pyro ;)) to me it looks like they lined the door with det. cord and used another charge under the cradle where the spinning plate would usually lie. This explains why the technician slides it into the microwave rather then placing it in which would be more natural, to hide the charge.
        • .. or that's what it feels like. I didn't actually see the Newton's cradle one, just the other ones that were on telly. I hope it's not all faked, but the guy who plays Dr Bunhead on Braniac has admitted the bathtub thing was staged.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0, ,1821144,00.html [guardian.co.uk]

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by MadEE ( 784327 )
            1. A magnetron is nothing more then a specialized vacuum tube. When it overheats the the filaments melt rendering the tube useless. 2. The magnetron is in the back of the microwave not in the door (which is where the explosion started. Once a fraud always a fraud.
            • Correction: A magnetron is nothing more than a specialized vacuum tube with a totally kick-ass name!
    • http://www.badscience.net/?p=270 [badscience.net]
      Presumably they ended up faking an explosion where they placed lithium?? (Something highly reactive around lithium) into the bath tub. It just didn't explode so they blew it up using explosives. Much worst than the Mythbusters where their explosions actually happen and if it doesn't they make it clear they are blowing up stuff.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )
        Sadly - they weren't using pure lithium, and here's the proof. Any real crystal-meth maker knows that the second pure lithium hits water, it fucking EXPLODES. This is how most meth makers meet their demise. Cesium does nearly the exact same thing.
        • Cesium does nearly the exact same thing.
          no cesium is a shitload WORSE

          i've seen small ammounts of lithium sodium and potassium dropped into water in a school science lab, approximately the same ammount of each and the lithium was the least violent of the three.

          the teacher couldn't demostrate more than that for safety reasons but she showed us a video where they did the entire sequence from lithium through to cesium, lithium was pretty uneventfull, sodium burnt relatively gently, potassium burnt violently, ru
    • Back in, ooh, 99, 2000ish if my memory serves, Jeremy Clarkson had a short-lived chat show called, surprisingly enough, Clarkson. One of the regular segments was putting something (like christmas lights, for example) into a microwave to see what happened.

      The experiments I remember as being even more fun were the potato canon (a potato placed in a spaghetti tube with hair spray in the bottom that was heated to the point of ignition) and its larger brother, the turkey canon (similar principle, but with a stee

  • Grapes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by waterford0069 ( 580760 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:09PM (#16904446) Homepage
    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 (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:44PM (#16904682)
      Answer. [madsci.org] Enjoy!

    • Re:Grapes (Score:5, Funny)

      by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:45PM (#16904692)
      Haven't you ever heard of ... sparkling white wine?
    • If you want them to spark, mostly bisect them -- like butterflying a chicken breast. Cut nearly in half so only a little bit of skin is still connecting the two halves, open them up and lay them on their backs (so the cut face is pointing upwards) and zap. You've just made a dipole antenna roughly tuned for microwave radiation. Every time I've tried this the small uncut section has vaporized with sparks and flames. You could get the same result by putting two grapes just barely touching, I think, but I
    • What I wonder is why these reactions would be bad for your microwave. Does it cause the device to draw too much power? Is it backfeeding, or it is just more a concern of setting small fires up in the microwave?

      From my (perhaps uninformed) perspective, when you're frying an egg or a slice 'o' bacon, the object is obsorbing the energy/heat from the microwave. Perhaps the grapes or tinfoil etc are emitting energy, but unless that actually gives a surge back into the components of the microwave how does that

  • SpamDot!?!! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by capsteve ( 4595 ) * on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:15PM (#16904482) Homepage Journal
    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!!!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BruceCage ( 882117 )
      Hear, Hear!

      This story should be removed immediately, it being a slow news day is no excuse for posting something ridiculous as this. Amazing how this even got through.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by capsteve ( 4595 ) *
        what's even more embarrassing is that the purveyor of this submission is a high school student...
    • I viewed it with Firefox and AdBlock.

      You mean there were ads? I just saw some text, and empty background, and the videos.

      The videos were interesting.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sco08y ( 615665 )
      If you use adblock, he still pays for bandwidth for the videos and gets no ad revenue.

  • Fun Mr Wizard experiment (Score:5, Funny)

    by edwardpickman ( 965122 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:16PM (#16904492)
    Place a six inch ball of pultonium wrapped in one inch of plactic expolsives in microwave. Heat on high until plutonium atoms fuse.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by metlin ( 258108 )

      Is this your idea of "cold" fusion? =)

    • Re:Fun Mr Wizard experiment (Score:5, Interesting)

      by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @03:53PM (#16906016)
      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.

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

      Unfortunately, even then you will still end up with unpopped kernels.
    • I did that last week and now I have a serious problem: Does anyone has a good name for my new lake?
  • Seriously, linking to a page of videos where each link takes you to that pyramid-scheme scam and won'says it won't show you anything until you're done? WTF, Chuck?

  • 2001 called... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Klaidas ( 981300 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:29PM (#16904582)
    They want their fun science back :)
    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microw ave+brainiac [youtube.com]
    Ah well. Slow news days happen, don't they?

  • Green Olives (Score:4, Interesting)

    by digerata ( 516939 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @12:38PM (#16904654) Homepage
    Kid you not. Green olives will spark in the microwave. Place three in a circle with the orange center (forgot what that's called) close to each other and nuke em. Sparks will fly!
  • A friend accidentally learned that it's not a good idea to put just any type of mug in a microwave oven.

    One night, he was staying overnight in the lab and became hungry so he decided to cook instant noodles using the microwave oven. He got a mug, choosing probably the one nearest the oven, put some water and noodles, and placed them in the oven to cook. It turned out that the mug is actually a metal cup covered with plastic with an attached plastic holder. As expected, the mug heated up so much that the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shanep ( 68243 )
      The moral of the story: be extra careful when you're hungry :)

      I once decided to boil an egg in the microwave and got the fright of my life. I placed the egg in a small bowl of water and then that in the microwave on high...

      The explosion sounded just like a hollywood action movie explosion. Bang-BOOOOOMMMMM!!! The explosion was so powerful, that it blew the door right open, breaking the thick strong plastic latch on the door.

      It was not a cheap quality microwave either. It was a large Panasonic.

  • Web 0.2 (Score:4, Funny)

    by DJRikki ( 646184 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @01:46PM (#16905130)
    obvious_joke_about_vintage_webpage++;

  • Aye! (Score:3, Funny)

    by no-body ( 127863 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @02:11PM (#16905286)
    as you wish - slashdotting the popup, it's already slow....

  • Pop-up? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Digital Dharma ( 673185 ) <max&zenplatypus,com> on Sunday November 19, 2006 @02:14PM (#16905298)
    I use IE 7. Never even saw a popup. Perhaps the poster should switch?

  • Google Ads + popups? (Score:5, Informative)

    by JourneyExpertApe ( 906162 ) on Sunday November 19, 2006 @02:47PM (#16905526)
    That's gotta be a violation of Google's terms of service.

  • Here are some direct links to the videos...
    .... Chip Bag [nyud.net]
    .... CD [nyud.net]
    .... Light Bulb [nyud.net]
    .... Egg [nyud.net]
    .... Tin Foil [nyud.net]
    .... Lemon [nyud.net]
    .... Grape [nyud.net]
    .... Soap [nyud.net]

    Unfortunalely in wmv format, but playable in Mplayer.

  • Once upon a time, when I used to ride a bicycle 25 miles each way (total of 46 miles per day) to and from work at a certain aerospace company in Seattled whose name begins with a B, I got soaked in pouring rain.

    And I forgot to bring my change of clothes.

    So, I did what I thought was the next best. I put my underwear and socks in the Amana RadarRange in the breakroom and turned it on.

    And, promptly forgot about it as I went about giving myself a sponge bath using paper towels.

    No sparks; no plasma; oh no . . .

    B

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