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Microwave experiments cause sponge disasters
Reuters ^ | 01/25/07

Posted on 01/25/2007 6:18:32 AM PST by presidio9

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To: vetvetdoug

I do it to thaw bottled water if I forget to yank it out of the freezer in time. You have to be careful with it though


121 posted on 01/27/2007 2:14:28 AM PST by SShultz460
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To: kalee

Mine was a reply to #49. These people are allowed to vote?


122 posted on 01/27/2007 2:31:24 AM PST by chuckles
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To: HiTech RedNeck

" The speed of light divided by that is 1.2 meters."

From Wikipedi:

"A microwave oven works by passing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2450 MHz (a wavelength of 12.24 cm), through the food. Water, fat, and sugar molecules in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam in a process called dielectric heating. Many molecules (such as those of water) are electric dipoles, meaning that they have a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, and therefore rotate as they try to align themselves with the alternating electric field induced by the microwave beam. This molecular movement creates heat as the rotating molecules hit other molecules and put them into motion. Microwave heating is most efficient on liquid water, and much less so on fats and sugars (which have less molecular dipole moment), and frozen water (where the molecules are not free to rotate). Microwave heating is sometimes incorrectly explained as a rotational resonance of water molecules: such resonance only occurs at much higher frequencies, in the tens of gigahertz. Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating in the 900 MHz range also heat water and food perfectly well."

12.4 cm is 4.8 inches, making a 1/4 wavelength 1.2 inches....


123 posted on 01/27/2007 8:04:31 AM PST by babygene (Never look into the laser with your last good eye...)
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To: RadioAstronomer

(You can also use your microwave to determine the speed of light)


How?


124 posted on 01/27/2007 4:21:17 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: babygene
"Water, fat, and sugar molecules in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam "

I assume that is why the shoe polish went pop and then we could not see through the little window . . .

125 posted on 01/27/2007 5:02:13 PM PST by Dust in the Wind (I've got peace like a river)
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To: presidio9
our entire house stinks like a burning tire for several hours

Just the price of stupidity.

126 posted on 01/27/2007 8:37:45 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: presidio9
entire house stinks like a burning tire for several hours

Is that all? My house smelled like that for decades, until both of my parent retired. They worked in a Goodyear belt and hose plant. (So did I while in college).

Once when my Dad was doing a stint as a supervisor (he hated the job), they wore dress shirts and ties, he went out for something or other during 2nd or 3rd shift. The night attendant at the place he went asked him where the fire was. :)

127 posted on 01/27/2007 8:41:19 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: r9etb
Couldn't you just buy a new, clean sponge....?

Not if you're a cheapskate, like some folks I know, including myself. Besides the things get groady pretty quickly under some circumstances. You'd be buying them all the time.

Doctors don't buy clean new clamps, scalpels, etc, after each surgery either, they sterilize them. Barbers used to do that with combs, scissors, and even razors. They don't do the razors anymore since HIV. At first they used a fresh disposable on each client, then in some places they just stopped giving shaves, including squaring up the sideburns and sharpening the neckline.

128 posted on 01/27/2007 8:46:46 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: Rick.Donaldson
So... the EASY solution is to boil water on your stove, put your sponges in there and let them boil for a couple minutes, and this would accomplish the exact same thing. Without using MICROWAVEs.

I suspect the both the direct and indirect (water heating) effect of the microwaves helps to kill the germs. After all you can cook meat in there, and meat is made of cells, just like the germs are.

But I don't think filling a pan with waters, waiting for it to boil, and then having to clean the thing, is EASY, compared to wetting the sponge, throwing it in the microwave and pressing a couple of buttons. YMMV.

129 posted on 01/27/2007 8:55:04 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: Night Hides Not
I sure hope that no one tries this with Brillo pads.

Way back in the dark ages, when I was a grad student and microwave ovens were still pretty new, I saw some local too-young-to-be students kids put a couple of foil packs of ketchup into one in the Electrical and Construction engineering break area, and set the thing for many minutes.

Messy.

OTOH, another EE grad student, later a professor, put his coffee cup in there to warm up the coffee... forgetting about the painted gold band around the top. Vaporized the gold paint, which condensed on the inside of the microwave oven. :)

130 posted on 01/27/2007 9:03:43 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: presidio9

I hope ample warnings have been posted about not over-heating pop tarts in a toaster and converting it into a flame thrower.


131 posted on 01/27/2007 9:10:07 PM PST by Nachoman (Screw my attitude.)
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To: El Gato
Doctors don't buy clean new clamps, scalpels, etc, after each surgery either

Neither do they put 'em in the microwave. OTOH, I'm not sure they don't buy new ones for every operation.

At any rate, sponges are cheap. Get a new one when it's smelly or dead.

132 posted on 01/28/2007 6:03:50 AM PST by r9etb
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To: lepton

Using a microwave to determine the speed of light. :-)

http://www.physics.umd.edu/ripe/icpe/newsletters/n34/marshmal.htm

(you can also use cheese or chocolate)


133 posted on 01/28/2007 12:38:48 PM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: RadioAstronomer

Ah, so not independently.


134 posted on 01/28/2007 2:34:33 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: presidio9
"To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet. Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot."

An attorney's wet dream come to life.

135 posted on 01/28/2007 2:39:23 PM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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