Microwave with a glass of water?
Discussion
deckster said:
Riiiight.
Have they ever said what they think will happen if it is accidentally switched on without this life-saving glass of water inside?
A few minutes wouldn't hurt, but you do need some load for any longer otherwise you'll damage the magnetron.Have they ever said what they think will happen if it is accidentally switched on without this life-saving glass of water inside?
I don't tend to accidentally switch stuff on though so I wouldn't bother with a glass of water!
I didn't know anyone still did that, used to be fairly common to put a glass of water in the microwave in the 90's, at least it was in NZ.
I "think" the reasoning behind it was that it would boil the water in the microwave rather than being switched on empty and blowing up. I'm not aware that any microwave has spontaneously switched itself on nor subsequently blown up but some people are habitual at the expense of reasoning.
My great grandmother used to make sure there was always a plug in every socket so that the new-fangled electricity didn't invisibly leak out.
I "think" the reasoning behind it was that it would boil the water in the microwave rather than being switched on empty and blowing up. I'm not aware that any microwave has spontaneously switched itself on nor subsequently blown up but some people are habitual at the expense of reasoning.
My great grandmother used to make sure there was always a plug in every socket so that the new-fangled electricity didn't invisibly leak out.
egomeister said:
Have the considered what happens when it does turn on, the glass of water gets superheated and it explodes in their faces when they try to remove it?
How does a microwave "superheat" water? Assuming they live at or near sea level, an open container of water will top out at 100 deg Cboyse7en said:
egomeister said:
Have the considered what happens when it does turn on, the glass of water gets superheated and it explodes in their faces when they try to remove it?
How does a microwave "superheat" water? Assuming they live at or near sea level, an open container of water will top out at 100 deg CThe gas with in the liquid would usually bubble off during heating (as you see when boiling water normally, serving a function of dissipating some of the heat input) but if there are no bubbles then the microwave puts more and more energy into the undisturbed water. When you subsequently disturb the liquid (for example stirring it if you were warming a drink) you reintroduce gas to the liquid which immediately causes the liquid to boil in the conventional manner.
Not an issue in my kitchen. The pop-de-ping shares a socket with the toaster, so they both get unplugged when they are finished with. I don't think we've ever set the clock on the microwave for that reason. My wife is obsessed with turning things off at the outlet to "save energy".
As an off topic aside, we rarely lose the remote control for the telly because it's always on the front of the stand. You have to turn it on with the switch so we've got used to picking up the remote when we turn the set on, then putting it back when we turn it off to go out.
As an off topic aside, we rarely lose the remote control for the telly because it's always on the front of the stand. You have to turn it on with the switch so we've got used to picking up the remote when we turn the set on, then putting it back when we turn it off to go out.
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