Added: 3 years ago
From: iplop
Views: 26,327
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  • Does this damage my microwave?)

  • @ParaglidingManiac

    It shouldn't as long as you place a dish over the matches to catch the plasma.

  • @iplop,

    Will 800watts be enough to produce plasma? That's my microwaves maximum power output.

  • @ParaglidingManiac

    Absolutely :)

    Just make sure you raise the glass slightly to let fresh air in to fuel the flame/don't do this for more than a few seconds. (if you let it go for too long the glass will heat up too much/explode)

  • @iplop,

    Okay. Thanks!)

  • LOL keep pressing 4.

    AUTOBOTS ROLL OUT!!

  • does it hurt the microwave at all?

  • didnt smoky the bear teach u never to play with fire?! >:(

  • I hear that can damage the microwave's magnetron

  • did it die? i think it died.

  • should have used pyrex..... they at least have a warranty .....

  • 'eh, I'd rather break a $0.50 glass than risk damaging a $5.00 pyrex dish.

    Also, I wanted the glass to explode! :D

  • So do the corks prop up the glass or something?

  • Comment removed

  • Oh wow that made some cool noises!

  • how bout microwave a battery? lol

  • so, are those batterys placed around the jar or what? In your first video it just looked like something plastic, what is it? Awesome video, 5 stars, one of the coolest things ive ever seen

  • Haha, thanks!

    Those are corks cut in half. At the time I had allot of those lying around from another project for a middle schooler's birthday party. [I taught them how to make PVC airguns (that can break glass!)]

  • I should add:

    The air gun's couldn't break glass with the ammo I made

  • why are they there, do they serve any purpose?  Also, glass breaking airguns, cool

  • The corks serve the purpose of allowing air to fuel the match.

    It's not the flame that the microwaves focus on but the burning coals. As you can see in my first attempt the experiment works without the glass being raised just not very well.

  • My completely un-scientific guess is that microwaves will focus on anything once it has reached the point to where it emits Blackbody Radiation.

    (search google for "Thermal Radiation" and look at the wiki for more info on Blackbody Radiation.

  • your microwave doesnt have the power to create a blackbody. the microwave heats up anything thats polar. microwaves have positive and negatives pole that undulate on its wavelength. charged portions of polar molecues rotate in alignment with the oppositely charged pole. stick something non polar in there, like any pure element and it wont heat up a single degree even if you use the most power microwave for a million years.

  • does it have to be a match or can you use a candle?

  • Anything that burns with allot of soot should work. The reason I used matches is because after the wood burns it leaves coals. From my observations it's the coals that the microwaves focus on.

    I've been meaning to try this little experiment with a burning charcoal to confirm this but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

    Short version:

    A candle should work but I'm not sure candles produce enough coals to focus microwaves.

  • If you haven't figured this out yet...the microwaves cause electricity to arc between carbon particles in the wood/charcoal/soot/wick/other burned item. Hence, why it arcs.

  • This is correct.

  • omygod

  • Some kid at my high school did this for us in a junk room. It was the sweetest thing I ever saw during my HS career.

  • I gotta tell you, that was pretty cool.

  • Try it again with a glass of water inside the microwave. It will give the microwaves somewhere to focus their energy. The reason microwave ovens work is that liquids in the food act as an antenna, and focus the beams. Which is also why when you nuke things like chicken wings, some parts get very hot while other parts don't.  The odd shapes focus the energy in odd ways.

  • Also, I made it explode on purpose :>

  • The plasma cloud gets super-hot absorbing all that power, and the rapid heating stressed the thick glass layer. It blew up from the stress.

    Try it again with a thin Pyrex container made to take the heat (like a chemistry beaker or test tube), and it'll probably work longer.

  • I've done this before using pyrex. Once the pyrex reaches a critical temperature it to will start to focus microwaves. After awhile it'll turn to plasma as well.

    You can also burn/melt pyrex by heating it to it's critical temperature with a sweating torch before placing it into the microwave.

  • maybe thats the future of glass removal, don't punch it, BURN it!

  • This looks really cool! I made my mom watch this and she was like "You're not allowed to use the microwave home alone anymore" haha.

  • Nice! XD

  • At least I have one fan. :D

    Seriously though. What I did was stupid. The glass plate underneath the plasma could have heated up as well and shattered when I opened the microwave door. Super hot glass in eye = BAD.

  • or you could inhale the ozone and nitrates thats let off by the plasma burning the atmosphere around it, thats almost as bad. haha

  • Very true. Doing this in your microwave produces N02 gas which is mildly toxic. I don't think it's too bad for you in the quantities produced by this but I still turn on the exhaust fan immediately afterwards and leave the room.

  • haha well thats good that you actually know what youre doing

  • Real smart

  • What's the worst that could've happened? :p

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