What is Digg?63 Comments
- d3dm, on 05/26/2009, -1/+28Stay glassy, Texas.
- MacBandit, on 05/26/2009, -1/+15How many microwaves have a glass front? I've never seen one they have a plastic front with a plastic grid.
Where did this imaginary decibel measurement come from. Since there are only two cases of it was someone just happening to hold a SPL meter at the time it broke? - crunchdigg, on 05/26/2009, -0/+12typical local news report. Essentially no facts, certainly not enough to make an informed assessment of the story.
Where was the "glass impurity" phrase in the article besides the headline?
(it wasn't, so what does supposed glass impurity have to do with anything?)
What might that have to do with glass breaking? glass broke so loudly
that it damaged someone's hearing? with a decibel figure? what?
The windows "blew off"? are we talking 6 inches, or shards embedded in the wall.
The woman who got had glass blow "into her arms and face", what were
her actual injuries? stitches? we'll never know.
What was the point of the article except to rile people up? 3 cases of
a microwave oven's glass
breaking, sometimes with no one in the room, never during use.
What is the viewer supposed to do? - scentaroom, on 05/26/2009, -5/+16I just gave my microwave away...safety first
- dogatemypron, on 05/26/2009, -0/+10I carry my SPL meter with me at all times just for this type of scenario.
- eleminop, on 05/26/2009, -0/+10a window exploding while driving around is a lot different from a microwavejust sitting on the counter.
- ljvillanueva, on 05/26/2009, -1/+9Where is the "glass impurity" claim?
Where did they get the dB measurements?
Another BS report of a local crappy station trying to get some ratings... - yerdaddy, on 05/26/2009, -1/+9The grid is metallic, so you don't microwave your face.
- anexanhume, on 05/26/2009, -1/+9The glass exploding with no activity makes no sense. There needs to be some activity happening in the microwave, whether it be electrical or pressure from gas, to cause a catastrophic breakdown like this. We need more info to judge what's actually occurring here.
- Advenger, on 05/26/2009, -0/+7Small fractures in the glass can cause it to explode when a great temperature difference occurs, for instance a hot summer day and a drop of water from a sprinkler or possibly beginning of a rain. Glass is hot, water is cold, BOOM!
- doctechnical, on 05/26/2009, -1/+8I had the rear window in my old Dodge Omni do pretty much the same thing. I'm just driving along when BANG the hatchback window disintegrates into about 100,000 pieces. I was sure something fell (or was thrown) through the window, but the only think in the compartment area or around the car was glass.
When I took it in to have the window replaced I asked about this and the guy said "It happens."
Who knew? Well, aside from that dude? - Lisztman, on 05/26/2009, -0/+7This is most likely not the product of the microwaves themselves, or even glass impurities.
The writer of this article clearly is making gross assumptions.
In actuality, this is most likely caused by improper glass tempering. When glass is made and rapidly cooled instead of slowly tempered, the silicon electrons tend to remain at rather high energy states, leading to dangerously unstable glass. That sort of glass is a ticking time bomb.
What is very suspicious about this though is the reports of a deafening noise. Perhaps some imprecision in the assembly of the frame, leading to compression of the glass, also contributed to this issue. - scotchw, on 05/26/2009, -0/+6The story isn't quite accurate, but the Digg headline is even less accurate.
The reason, in short, is because the door of the microwave is likely Tempered Glass, which is not the same as glass impurities.
There is a high degree of internal stress in tempered glass, and any defect that allows the stress to propagate to the outer
surface will quickly let that stress rip the glass apart into many pieces.
Also, in the 100 or so times I've seen a tempered glass sheet intentionally chipped as a demonstration, the noise level has never been anything that would considered remotely dangerous.
PhD, materials science - archimago42, on 05/26/2009, -0/+6What about the person you gave it TO? Call 911!
- borez, on 05/26/2009, -2/+7The older you get, the less sensitive your hearing becomes, so no it wouldn't.
- bipolarruledout, on 05/26/2009, -0/+5When the electronics start to fail the microwave can turn itself on and off randomly....or I guess you can blame the ghosts in your house if you want. Regardless those waves have to go somewhere and heating defective glass is a good way to make it crack particularly if exposed to moisture. I'm sure it's possible but probably not a real common occurrence.
- archimago42, on 05/26/2009, -1/+6"They settled". Oh, look at that! I just found a motivation to make something up.
- punk2684, on 05/26/2009, -0/+5A microwave has simple tempered glass. The same glass that is used in car doors, sliding glass doors and many other things. Tempered glass is made by heating it to a high temperature then cooling it quickly. This is done to make it stronger by up to five times and to allow the glass to shatter into small pieces that are not as dangerous. Tempered can shatter for no reason at all at any time. That is just the way tempered is. Has nothing to do with how the appliance is made and there is only one way to make tempered glass. The only solution is to not use glass.
- newzdude, on 05/26/2009, -0/+4NOTE TO SELF: Avoid microwave ovens made in China.
- Barackalypse, on 05/26/2009, -0/+4"We use only the highest quality Chinese glass, lovingly assembled by prisoners or young children, in our microwaves" claimed a GE spokesperson.
- inactive, on 05/26/2009, -0/+4Everybody PANIC!
- borez, on 05/26/2009, -2/+6Heads up lady: A 130 to 139 decibel split second peak sound wave will not damage your hearing. Period.
- doctechnical, on 05/26/2009, -1/+5How do you know the glass on the LCD or CRT screen you're looking at right now isn't about the do the same thing?
You worry too much. Way to much. Relax. Don't worry. Have a home brew. - doctechnical, on 05/26/2009, -0/+4@eleminope: I was actually stopped at an intersection at the time, waiting for the light to change.
I guess my point is, glass is weird stuff - I've heard people claim it's actually a liquid. Based on my experiences I guess I just don't find the occasional microwave glass-explosion all that extraordinary.
Call me jaded :) - archimago42, on 05/26/2009, -1/+5For someone who clearly likes to reason things out, you are assuming that people don't exaggerate to get money from lawsuits. I find that the hardest to believe.
- inactive, on 05/26/2009, -0/+3I wonder where those microwaves were made. 1 guess.
oh wait no china bashing today. they probably do not even exist. - Advenger, on 05/26/2009, -0/+3Get a microwave with a plastic door.
- theodoregray, on 05/26/2009, -0/+3Probably caused by improperly tempered glass. See my article about how explosive tempered glass can be if you exaggerate the stress to far beyond what it should be (with video of exploding glass): http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-06/shatteri ...
- Lisztman, on 05/26/2009, -1/+4In all microwave ovens available in the U.S., designs do not make it possible for microwave radiation to come into contact with the glass itself.
You know that screen that you usually see behind the glass in a microwave? That is a filter designed specifically to prevent microwave radiation from escaping the chamber while allowing light to pass through.
So the idea that the microwave has to be in operation to have this happen is completely nonsensical. - lenenterprise, on 05/26/2009, -1/+4That suck. I also guess that means we should be conducting regular cleaning or our waves - that way we can spot any impending accidents before they happen. Breakfast is served with side of our favorite "shard de glasse" it is thinly sliced with small chips like french fries. hehe.
- asgardshill, on 05/26/2009, -0/+3I'd be a bit more concerned about the big glass turntable INSIDE my microwave exploding than the plastic front. As hot as that thing sometimes gets, I'm a little surprised it hasn't exploded yet.
- dsfjvhbd, on 05/26/2009, -0/+3Microwave is off, door is touched, glass explodes with 130+ decibels. I have no idea, what the physics behind this could be. I cannot imagine the glass itself having tensions that produce these energies (and surviving to the point of being built into the microwave).
- Ajajadude, on 05/26/2009, -1/+3Even if you're stopped at a light, there are plenty of things that could have happened.
- serif69, on 05/26/2009, -3/+5Whoa whoa whoa. You mean to tell me that in North Texas, two microwave oven windows flew off by themselves and it's not attributed to demonic possession? What is happening to the world?
- MacBandit, on 05/27/2009, -0/+2Yes it is. It is however covered in plastic in nearly all the microwaves I have ever seen.
- anexanhume, on 05/26/2009, -1/+3Where did I say it was in operation? I specifically stated it must have had some electrical or pressure activity. bipolar correctly took this line of logic by saying the microwave could have part of its circuitry working when not in a specifically placed operating mode. No doubt, thousands of cyclical occurrences like this could induce stress into the glass, causing it to breakdown catastrophically at some threshold.
The metal screen in a microwave is not going to be a perfect filter, nor should we expect it to be. A distance should be observed from an operating microwave in the event something does go wrong. - directive0, on 05/26/2009, -0/+2Hmmm, I'm willing to bet the glass in my monitor is not near a magnetron.
- dwtc, on 05/26/2009, -0/+2No, that's not it at all. Both of these cases happened when the microwaves weren't being used... So just make sure you leave your microwave running ALL the time, then you'll be fine.
- JTMON, on 05/26/2009, -0/+2Well I read your reply to the post above this one and had to come down here to see what you were talking about. It appears you miss the point. If you read the digg headline alone, one would think that the microwave was just sitting there and there was no ACTION to get a reaction.
Tempered glass or not, something needs to happen for it to have a reaction. You are saying it could have been a defect in the glass. Ok, but you say that any defect will quickly let that stress rip the part into many pieces. Well by your statement, the glass should have done just that WHEN the glass was chipped in the first place. Unless these people chipped it opening it, misusing it and for some other reason, I don't see how your point works. If the chip happened during manufacturing as the article claims, then again, according to you it would have broke completely at the factory, or on shipment at the least.
Define "quickly" in your statement lmao.
I also saw just the headline and called BS. Ok so they supposedly weren't on, but people were doing something to them in 2 out of 3 cases when the glass broke and one was determined misuse. How do we know what really happened. - KSUdesigner, on 05/26/2009, -1/+3Even stopped at a light, the idling engine will create some vibration in the glass. If the glass is already weak...well you know what happens then.
- Watley, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2The exact same thing happened to my brother's pathfinder. We were going to school on day and all the sudden the back window just shattered. The best we could figure was that he left the back defroster on to long.
- archimago42, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2Could it be because the glass never had these energies? It's OK to say it out loud the lady who made money from the lawsuit is dead.
- inactive, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2most LCD screens i ever saw were plastic, im sure there is some glass inside but the re is no high energy density or vacuum to cause anything to suddenly explode due to a fault.
- Yage2006, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2Anyone have the brand names to those 2 that exploded. I will make sure NEVER to buy them .
- inactive, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2Yes it would. Old people tend to break easily.
- smoger, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1I once had a few-day-old toaster oven explode. Also GE brand. Wonder if this is a similiar situation. The particular model was manufactured exclusively for Walmart(go figure)
- scotchw, on 05/26/2009, -1/+2@anexanhume
"There needs to be some activity happening in the microwave, whether it be electrical or pressure from gas, to cause a catastrophic breakdown like this."
Completely wrong, and almost completely wrong.
Tempered glass. See my explanation below. - masterstghm, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1Microwaves with glass covers? Don't most glass covers have plastic covers?
- inactive, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1Good luck with that...
- antdude, on 05/27/2009, -0/+1Mirror: http://rorr.im/digg.com/odd_stuff/glass_impurity_c ...
The house's Sanyo microwave did this overnight over a year ago. Its glass black/dark window shattered. http://www.google.com/search?q=microwave+shattered ... seems to show this issue has happened in the past.
I have a blog about it: http://aqfl.net/?q=node/5989 ... -
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