You won't believe it until it happens to you. I was lucky to escape injury
because I hadn't yet opened the door. There was a deafening BANG. I opened the
door and the Pyrex cup of water I had been heating had exploded all over the
oven, there were only a few drops of water left in the cup. People have been
seriously burned on arms, face, eyes. This sounds like an urban legend, but it
is not.

For reliable information on this dangerous phenomenon, go to:

http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/microwave_ovens.html

Scroll down to the Mar. 16, 2001 entry, and then on to Nov. 15 ,2000. See the
sequence of photos he made of a glass cup of water exploding.
Also be sure to click on the hyperlink "For reader's story on burns, etc."
Nancree

Nancree wrote:

> For reliable information on this dangerous phenomenon, go to:
>
> http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/microwave_ovens.html
>
> Scroll down to the Mar. 16, 2001 entry, and then on to Nov. 15 ,2000. See the
> sequence of photos he made of a glass cup of water exploding.
> Also be sure to click on the hyperlink "For reader's story on burns, etc."

This guy has some interesting things to contribute to the topic.
He's got a video demonstrating the reaction, including some
slow motion sequences. He also shows that a thin film of oil on
the surface of the water helps get the water into a superheated
state.

The oil thing sure works. Bonus points for extra distance. Now I
have to clean the microwave, and part of the wall.

I also noticed that the oil causes another interesting change.
Without the oil the water will go through the normal heating stages
and begin to boil but not much else, unless it's disturbed
(he uses a fork). With the layer of oil, the water sits for awhile
cooking away apparently doing nothing then suddenly blows up all
on it's own.

Great link, thanks.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Nancree wrote:

> For reliable information on this dangerous phenomenon, go to:
>
> http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/microwave_ovens.html
>
> Scroll down to the Mar. 16, 2001 entry, and then on to Nov. 15 ,2000. See the
> sequence of photos he made of a glass cup of water exploding.
> Also be sure to click on the hyperlink "For reader's story on burns, etc."

This guy has some interesting things to contribute to the topic.
He's got a video demonstrating the reaction, including some
slow motion sequences. He also shows that a thin film of oil on
the surface of the water helps get the water into a superheated
state.

The oil thing sure works. Bonus points for extra distance. Now I
have to clean the microwave, and part of the wall.

I also noticed that the oil causes another interesting change.
Without the oil the water will go through the normal heating stages
and begin to boil but not much else, unless it's disturbed
(he uses a fork). With the layer of oil, the water sits for awhile
cooking away apparently doing nothing then suddenly blows up all
on it's own.

Great link, thanks.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

"Nancree" > wrote in message
...
>
> You won't believe it until it happens to you. I was lucky to escape injury
> because I hadn't yet opened the door. There was a deafening BANG. I
opened the
> door and the Pyrex cup of water I had been heating had exploded all over
the
> oven, there were only a few drops of water left in the cup. People have
been
> seriously burned on arms, face, eyes. This sounds like an urban legend,
but it
> is not.
>
> For reliable information on this dangerous phenomenon, go to:
>
> http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/microwave_ovens.html
>
> Scroll down to the Mar. 16, 2001 entry, and then on to Nov. 15 ,2000. See
the
> sequence of photos he made of a glass cup of water exploding.
> Also be sure to click on the hyperlink "For reader's story on burns, etc."
> Nancree


This is something I found out about quite a few years ago from a teacher. I
knew that alot of people thought it was an urban legend but I believed my
teacher. Then I saw them experiment on MythBusters, and they proved that it
is in fact true. It was the introduction of *anything*...dust, a spoon,
whatever, that set off the superheated water.

kimberly