Microwave Oven Plasma from an Open Flame

By microwave (RF) heating the ionized gas produced by an open flame, it is possible for an individual to produce a plasma inside an ordinary consumer microwave oven. Further, through the clever use of a sufficiently temperature resistant container (such as an inverted glass jar or bowl), it is possible to temporarily confine the resultant plasma while maintaining its existence via continuous microwave input.

Here we used a 1000 watt consumer microwave oven and a bit of burning toilet paper as our flame source. In the first instance an inverted pickle jar elevated on cardboard "legs" was used for confinement; in the second instance, a glass cup with a cracked rim and side. The final (third) instance was unconfined.

A microwave oven's magnetron creates a very strong alternating magnetic field, ordinary used to warm materials (such as food) containing water (whose molecules are electric dipoles, meaning they have a positive and negative end) through dielectric heating. In such operation the quick change in field direction forces the water molecules to rapidly align in one direction and then realign in the other, continuously. This constant movement generates heat, thus warming your tasty burrito.

However, the reason this plasma phenomenon occurs is the result of intense currents induced within the conductive ionized gas the open flame produces. This process is very different from dielectric heating, but is still conceptually based on similar electrodynamics Physics.

When a conductor is placed within a magnetic field, a current is induced within its structure and a sufficiently high current traveling through a resistive element (like a metal) produces intense Ohmic heating. In this case, the ionized gas produced by the flame acts as the electrical conductor. The strong magnetic field causes the ion cloud to heat rapidly, to the energy level necessary to tear even more of the electrons away from the atoms they were orbiting. This high energy ion cloud is what we observe as plasma.

- Microwave-plasma'ing performed and video description written by "The Android" (Physics, Engineering, and Mathematics undergrad, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) for '508Lax'.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• microwave
• oven
• plasma
• plasmoid
• ball
• lightning
• open
• fire
• flame
• mot
• rf
• ohmic
• joule
• resistive
• heating
• magnetic
• electric
• field
• free
• electrons
• ions
• ionized
• high
• energy
• magnetron
• induction
• voltage
• current
• gas
• fourth
• state
• matter

[KJVWordofGod]

Please do more videos of a similar nature, refining the experiment for efficiency and power.

[ciprianwiner]

nice one