Homely Scientist

So Scott asked about sparks coming from grapes in the microwave in my latest questions answered post.  Scott directed me to this post that explains what’s going on … in detail, lots of detail.  It also seems that folks in San Diego were in this too.

So, what’s going on?  Amazingly the sphereoid shape of grapes makes an awesome dipole antenna .. the grape starts increasing the signal.  Now, two grapes, which was the question, oooh boy then the fun begins!  The two grape-tennas start interacting with each other and as super heated steam (grape juice) starts coming from the grapes,   This heated steam and the enhanced energy from the microwaves starts exciting electrons and they start jumping back and forth.  For about 10 seconds before the whole thing runs out of steam (literally).

This is a good time to talk a little about microwave safety.  Stuff like CDs, tinfoil, this little grape fun, etc.in the microwave okay they might seem fun, but they are a) bad for your microwave and b) not that safe.  Not like really dangerous, but not something I’d recommend doing.  Whenever sparks are being emitted in a microwave there is a potential for you to short out the magneto in the microwave.  This is a bad thing.  You are dealing with electromagnetic energy here.  Yep it’s safe for heating coffee and hot dogs, but keep your CD collection of Yanni away from it.

Tags: microwaves, grapes, microwave safety

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