"MY CUP BOILETH OVER!" > Page 1, 2, 3
| "He blew the door off his mother's microwave" |
Whether urban legend or truth, the possibility of heated water exploding makes sense. When water is heated it changes from liquid to gas.
| "A major cleanup job" |
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Note the extensive use of detail....
| "Never happened, never will happen" |
1) Convection will occur regardless of nucleation. Heating with microwaves occurs at some depth, not on the surface, therefore there will be convection, with subsequent cooling on the surface due to the air not being even close to 212 degrees F. This is just to point out that there can not be any superheated 'spots' within the body of the water. To accomplish that the liquid has to be in a weightless condition.
2) All water, except sterile water – boiled and condensed, has impurities in it; therefore boiling will occur with tap water or commercial bottled water – people don't like to drink sterile water because it is tasteless.
Conclusion: Never happened, never will happen in anyone's kitchen microwave oven.
There is a possiblity a ceramic cup could have a flaw in it and a small amount of water could become trapped in a small pocket. This water could turn to steam and eventually cause the cup to explode. Not likely but possible.
You really have to realize that just because someone has a PhD in a field such as physics, it doesn't mean that they are capable of thinking wholistically or practically – you know the old saw: knowing more and more about less and less.
| "BOOM!" |
At a social gathering one evening we chatted about other funny science stories. He told about being on a morning local TV segment in L.A. and being prepared to demonstrate superheated water in the microwave. The experiment would be to heat pure water in a teacup for five minutes: it wouldn't be boiling. Then they'd put a teabag in and it would boil furiously.
His appearance on the morning show kept getting delayed, so they kept re-heating the water. Finally – BOOM! – and the door gets blown off the microwave. Needless to say, it freaked him out. The response of the TV producer: "That was cool. Can you do it again?"
I've wracked my brain to try to remember who the NY Times writer was, so that you could talk to him . . . but alas.
| "Watch what you type in" |
The place where this might cause trouble is should one not take care punching in the time to cook. It’s all too easy to hit 2222 in lieu of 222 when trying to heat a cup of water for 2 min. & 22 sec. (which on our unit makes the water hot enough for tea). If you don’t realize that the heat’s been on for ever you really might hurt yourself, even if the water does steam. Perhaps the "watch what you type in" advice is worth emphasizing.
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