What is Digg?71 Comments
- koonchu, on 10/12/2007, -5/+57If you follow the patterns here at Digg, the next story should be "What happens when you put AJAX in the microwave."
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+48What happens when you put a microwave inside a bigger microwave?
- fatsobob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38What happens when you put A furby, a bar of soap, a Zune, Ubuntu, Wii, PS3, Microsoft, Apple, a leaked copy of FFXII, and Mark Foley in a microwave?
Please add more if I am forgetting anything. - willpall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+31@rompom
are you that completely clueless??? How the hell do you think a microwave cooks food then? Fairies?
The sole purpose of a microwave oven is to emit radiation--no, not nuclear radiation--microwave radiation. Radiation nonetheless. - Phyltre, on 10/12/2007, -7/+36Why don't people do this to make light during power outages?
- Araya213, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27"Why don't people do this to make light during power outages?"
ummm, here's your sign. - dpchi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19My sarcasm alarm is sounding...
- waverider1899, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Hi Rompom,
Actually, Microwave-Ovens do emit Electro-Magnetic-Radiation (EMR) in a frequency of invisible-light we like to call "microwaves", and thus the name "microwave-oven"!
Really the word "radiation" simply refers to be big happy "magical" rainbow of light (most of it invisible to the human eye).
One side of the rainbow, you start with really short, narrow waves, that can do some serious damage to your body, and your DNA. (Keep away from these light-waves, unless you want mutant children). They are: gamma-rays and x-rays.
To an x-ray, your skin is glass, and your bone is a mirror -- an x-ray passes right through your skin, but then bounces off the mirror of your bone.
(To a gamma-ray, practically anything is like glass: it will fly right through most objects.)
As you keep going down this rainbow you encounter all kinds of other different light/radiation, as the start to stretch out and get further apart, and carry less of a punch.
When you reach microwaves, the wave is still very small, and still packs some serious energy. At that point your skin is mostly like a mirror (bouncing away the microwaves) but it lets some of that "light" or "radiation" through the surface.
Supposedly at that point, the microwave radiation does very little harm to you, except excite water molecules in your skin. (So "they" say.) The early experimenters with microwaves in the 1950's used high intensity microwave beams to warm their hands on cold winter days and nothing happened -- no cancer ever appeared in their hands (so "they" say).
If you keep going eventually you reach visible light (and that the human eye can detect).
You then move into the infrared, which the human body can also "see" through skin. (We sense when warm objects emit infrared radiation).
Eventually you reach radio waves, and those have a very wide wavelength. The length of your radio antenna is required to receive one full sized wavelength of radio.
To see radio-light with your eyes, your eyes would have to be the width of an antenna. That would be one huge eyeball!
Anyways... this lightbulb in the microwave thing -- i've been doing that at parties for about 10 years now, and do it a few times a year in my own microwave for about 3 to 4 seconds at a time. My microwave is 10 years old and still works. - kenz0r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17@rompom,
Then explain the lightbulb. - thorbergdt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17lol, what kind of microwave do you own?! Mine unfortunately needs power to run.
- TheKrillr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13@rompom
A microwave oven emits MICROWAVE RADIATION into your food to excite the water molecules inside it to heat your food. It is, indeed, radiation. the MICROWAVE oven emits RADIation, MICROWAVES are RADIO waves...
Go back to 5th grade science. Or go here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven Pay close attention to the first sentence in the first link where it says "radiation". - mikexstudios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8WARNING: Many of the other comments in this thread that are modded up explain this light bulb phenomenon with INCORRECT science.
Arg! I don't think the "current passing through filament" answer is quite correct. The idea of using the lightbulb as an "antenna" to capture the microwave that generates a current sounds good, but I don't think the induction works well at all.
For instance, try putting a broken lightbulb in the microwave and repeating this experiment. I think it will still light up despite the fact that no current is passing through the filament.
I think the correct explanation is that there exist some trace amounts of gas within the light bulb which becomes ionized by the microwave radiation, and therefore forms a plasma. It is the plasma that gives off the light.
This view is supported by the paper: Microwave Discharge Characteristics of Plasma Lighting System (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/9039/28689/01286241.pdf) - tylerdurdenclub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Am I the only one surprised that it didnt explode?
- fuelvolts, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Ummm....no. The filament gets hot/gives off light when an electric current runs through it. Not because it is hot.
- 2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I saw this years (almost two decades) ago on Mr. Wizard's world.
Buried as duplicate story. Not really... but I always wanted to know how it feels to be an elitist *****. Didn't like it too much. - altosaxon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ Rockabilly, [bill engval]...
- BigATB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4radiation is any type of wave energy in the electromagnetic spectrum from RF(radio and micro waves) to infrared and visible light to x-rays UV-rays or gamma rays and the other "atomic bomb stuff" that makes you glow or gives you cancer
- superfli68, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I saw that in a class in college. If you put a glass of water in the microwave with it, the bulb won't explode and you won't need to buy a new microwave.
- Recuso, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5fuelvolts is correct.
PathDaemon, arcing implies electricity passing a gap of air or some other substance. The electricity doesn't arc across a spark gap to produce visible light, it passes throught he fillament which emits photons when a current passes through it. - PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Uranium...
Microwaves are not radioactive! I've already argued this out with someone else! - billymachine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ waverider1899: Brevity is the soul of wit! Also, you forgot to go into the wave-particle paradox, that could have gone on for at least 10 more paragraphs!
This has honestly been the most long-winded thread I've ever read on Digg. I need a nap. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3How much water should be in that cup? I want to try this but I don't want to break the microwave...
- TheKrillr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Any time you have an electromagnetic wave, its called radiation. Its electromagnetic radiation. The radiation you're thinking of is particle/nuclear radiation (alpha, gamma, etc).
- Batiu-Drami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3nerds and microwaves are a horrible combination.
- spliznork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ooo. Lighting a 50 watt lightbulb with a 1200 watt microwave. That's, like, 5% power conversion.
- PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Recuso, you sure?
Arcing is quite common when microwaving metal. The color and flickering nature of this light leads me to believe that is is not from a heated filament. Also, for the filament to heat, energy would have to pass through it without interference from the case. - MrRockabilly, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5@Phyltre:
OMG, comment of the year, lol.
@Araya213, +digg for the Jeff Foxworthy reference.
"did your big rig get stuck under the bridge?!?"
"nope, we were carrying the bridge and my truck ran out of gas" - jtjdt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is how you make a light with a microwave, enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1jqSKHfffU&mode=related&search= - superfli68, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just a cup of water, just enough to absorb some of the electromagnetic waves. When my teacher did it he used a burnt out light bulb so it didn't work till he took the cup out and it blew up after a few seconds, it was sweet.
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Rompom, microwaves are non-ionizing radiation. Waves at a much higher frequency are inonizing, meaning they carry enough energy to ionize an atom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-ionizing_radiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation - tavisjohn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"What happens when you put ubuntu in the microwave is after ajax!"
Well on MythBusters the CD's they put in the micrfowave kinda spark.
"What happens when you put a microwave inside a bigger microwave?"
A refrigerator?
When Jamie on MythBusters took 4 magnatrons and tried to make a super microwave, the water they were using for the test was COOLER after several seconds of exposure! - PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2No, it's electrical arcing...
- ikak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no they aren't radioactive... but they do produce radiation...
- crexor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1try putting a floursecent in the microwave, and shield the metal contacts, it will actual light up, as it is supposed to, because of the gas being charged, in the same way that is charged by the ballast during normal operation.
- zinob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ARGH! won't some one please think about the Microwave-Ovens and the all the parents that will have to buy a new one? All the metal, all the metal, overload, the pain...
- abhirao, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Allsortshop: It's 'happens' not 'happends'. This is the second time (at least) that you submitted an article with 'happends'.
- gvetterick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I'm amazed at the general lack of knowledge on how a lightbulb works.
The lightbulb lights up because as the electric current passes through the tungsten filament, the resistance of the very fine wire causes it to heat up white hot, thus emitting light.
The microwave produces an electromagnetic field (i.e. electromagnetic RADIATION) that causes a change in the E and B fields inducing an electric current in the bulb, causing it to light up. - mrbass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I nuke an optical mouse, router, nic, DDR memory, cable modem, CDs, fan, surge protector, and eggs in this video. http://mrbass.org/nuke/
- harpdog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I see microwaves blown up with various contents every week on the show on Sky 1 called Brainiac. Check it out.
- GrendelT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah, while RF is a *type* of radiation. It's not like the radiation you think of when you think about atomic bombs and fallout and stuff.
- mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@waverider1899
Question: Are all forms of EMR the same "substance" just at different wavelengths? Or do they also have different properties that differentiate them?
Thanks - lazlonger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i thought it was ultimately induction too.
- handheldchimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have to admit, i was totally expecting a really cool explosion :P
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1** The Ajax Lady starts imitating Donald duck**
"Ohhh man.... that was the most amount of Ajax I've seen anyone snort!"
-Chong (Cheech & Chong Up In Smoke) - handheldchimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That noise sounded bad. He probably needs a new microwave.
- waverider1899, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@mrhaines
Hey mrhaines: yes that is a good question and you are correct.
X-rays, microwaves, radio-waves, and the color purple, are all the same "thing" or "substance". The only real difference between them is simply their wavelength.
When they are "tiny" and "small" all the energy in the wave is focused and concentrated in that tiny-space of the wave, so it really packs a punch (like x-rays and gamma-rays). What's worse you could fit thousands of little tiny waves of this concentrated energy into a tiny space, so that when it flies towards you, you are getting hit with thousands (millions) of high energy waves.
But when the waves are really long and big, all the energy is divided and dispersed across a wide area (like a radio wave), so if part of the wave hits you, it does little to no damage. Also you can not fit alot of radio-waves into a small space. They are actually quite big, so you can't get hit by nearly as many of them.
But this "rainbow of light" gets even weirder. Not only are "x-rays" and "microwaves" and the "colors" you can see with your eye all the same thing, but Einstein took it one step further. Einstein said that matter itself is really "frozen light".
So according to Einstein not only is a microwave-beam the same thing as an x-ray (just at a different wave-length), but your hand, or a desk, or a pencil, or a car is the same thing as a microwave-beam, or a radio wave, or the color purple. They are all the same "substance".
During a nuclear explosion the frozen light (ie: matter such as Uranium) is converted into pure "light" with a heck of alot of that "light" being at the very dangerous "gamma-ray" frequency.
But yes... this "matter is really just frozen light" is a very weird concept, and I have no good metaphor to explain that (as I don't fully understand it myself.)
Also one more interesting note about matter versus light. When you move matter really fast (like an ocean wave for example) it starts to act a little bit like a beam of light. It's almost as though it "remembers" that it was once a "beautiful beam of light" and it wants to act like "light". It wants to be free once again! So it forms an ocean wave.
The most extreme example of moving matter really fast to make a wave, is when you take electrons (electrons are matter, and thus they are "frozen light") and accelerate them to nearly the speed of light (ie: something like 99.9999999 percent the speed of light).
At that point the stream of electrons act almost precisely like an x-ray. Again just like an ocean wave, the matter tries to act like its former self: a beam of light.
In fact most hospital x-ray machines use streams of electrons to simulate an x-ray. So a hospital x-ray machine is technically an x-ray simulator, and not really a true x-ray generator. The electrons at that speed act so much like an x-ray (and become so close to their former self of being an light beam) that they can be used in place of real x-rays.
That means the ultimate form of freedom in the universe would be to become a beam of light -- pure energy moving at 186,000 miles per second. - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love being an ass like this:
Waverider, X-rays and Gamma radiation are the SAME thing.
They BOTH react the same way to skin and to bones. - toxicredm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Posneg, meet typo. Typo, posneg.
- mikexstudios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No, it's not induction! See my comment near the top of the page!
- jaxzin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@waverider1899
Your explanation of the electromagnetic spectrum was very good, thanks. One small nit, microwaves are infrared (actually so infrared it is classified as a radio wave) and not ultraviolet as your description suggests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave -
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