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Science in the Microwave
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Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (5) All right, who's the wiseguy who stuck this trigraph stuff in here?
Sci-Home (Score:2, Interesting)
How many CD's have you burned in your microwave oven? And have you build your own Tesla trafo? If not, then give them a try also...
What if you DON'T heed the warnings... (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyone have a spare microwave they don't mind sacrificing to see what happens if you just keep it going?
Just as much fun... (Score:4, Interesting)
Fun light show...wheee!
Tons of interesting stuff (Score:1, Interesting)
like field effect propulsion and antigravity.
Check http://jnaudin.free.fr/advpmnu.htm
what exactly is 'plasma' (Score:2, Interesting)
It sure looks nifty but that can't be a criterium, right?
Re:Nice Blue flash (Score:1, Interesting)
Easier way (Score:2, Interesting)
Instead of building that complex machinery list at the webpage all you need is a standard 2-liter bottle of soda (pop for Midwesterners, coke for Texans). Cut the bottom off and discard the top (usually about 3-4 inches should do) poke hole in the side for airflow.
Now you need something to hold the match upright e.g. a.b.c. gum or a cock like them.
Light the match close the door, start the microwave. Eventually your 2-liter will melt causing even more fun.
vossman
big fun time (Score:2, Interesting)
degrees of sucsess. For those of you with
plenty of time, try repeating the experiment
with a glass container not given enough
ventilation. When the plasmoid ignites
(lights? is born? stabilizes?) it radiates
a lot of heat. Without proper ventilation
the glass vessle will jump upwards with a
satisfying bang. The flash is quite impressive
for the easily amused.
As for the sound, there is some sound produced
other than the low pitch hum of the microwave
itself, sort of a buzzing noise.
I once saw a page describing this experiment,
but this person had taken the magnetron tube
out of the microwave, mounted it in a very
sexy looking raygun type configuration. It
looked exceedingly dangerous. I'm sure all the
reflected radiation was an excellent
stimulation to his fertility.
Such wonderful toys.
Re:Just tried it out... (Score:3, Interesting)
Third attempt: more or less same setup as previously, but a little less water in the "load" glass, and using a larger cork, so that the mine could stand upright without leaning against the bottle. A spark appeared already early on in the experiment, but didn't cause a ball. However, the same candle-flavored fumes started appearing again. Then it hit me: they came from the cork, which was heated by the pencil mine stuck into it. Indeed, the cork had small traces of burn. Still no plasmoid, alas.
Fourth attempt: Figuring that strength of microwaves might depend on orientation, I broke a small piece off the mine, and stuck it into the cork, horizontally, rather than vertically. Soon indeed sparks, and then a ball of fire appeared, but unfortunately the pleasure was rather short-lived: the plasmoid set fire to the plastic bottle, and thus I had to stop the mess. Ok, I'll have to hunt for a suitable glass vessel.