See what using microwaved water can do

Grilling meat over an open fire creates benzo(a)pyrene, a rather nasty carcinogen.

I don't grill anything, Howard.

According to research, if I use a microwave, it's, for one thing, going to be destroying a lot of the nutrition in my food, along with increasing my risks of cancer and etc.

Just to get you straight, are you suggesting to me that I should continue using a microwave, given these risks? To each his own, but I'd rather like to eat somewhat nutritious food, and preferably without increasing my chances of getting cancer.

All I am doing is pointing out that heating food, no matter if you are doing it over a camp fire, using a convection oven or using a microwave, causes chemical changes in the food.

We want that. That is what cooking is. Yes, it destroys some nutrients, but it also kills bacteria and can cause other changes to make the food more digestible.

As to the issue of plastics in microwaved foods, yes, I actually agree that that is an issue. I don’t use plastic in the microwave, just as I don’t use aluminum cookware on the stove or oven..

I avoid using double acting baking powder, but I do grill foods over a gas grill in my backyard, or over a charcoal/ wood fire while camping.

Dang it!
That is scary but thanks for sharing the project with us dgtempe.
Hope your Grand-daughter got an A+.

Sly

Originally posted by HowardRoark
All I am doing is pointing out that heating food, no matter if you are doing it over a camp fire, using a convection oven or using a microwave, causes chemical changes in the food.

We want that.

I think we both know that it's not that black and white.

It depends on what these chemical changes are, and what the consequences are and the risks we run in eating food exposed to such changes.

More cool things to do with microwaves

I will not be heald responsible for anyting you do with this information
This information can be found elseware on the net and is freely available
This is just some ideas from my own personal experience
enjoy!


Drive around for a few days and find one in the trash somewhere, my friends and i found 5 this way in a matter of about 3 weeks 2 summers ago.

DO NOT USE YOUR OWN MICROWAVE THAT YOU EAT OUT OF FOR THE FOLLOWING EXPERIMENTS, you have been warned.

First take your "garbage" microwave for a test run, put a cup of water in it and see if it gets hot.
If it does the magnatron is still good enough for the next few experiments
If the water's cold then throw it away
If you are thinking of trying to repair it usually the problem is a bad fuse, replace it with a new fuse and see if that works

VERY IMPORTANT, THE CAPICATOR IN THE MICROWAVE IS A HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITOR, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO ANY REPAIRS OR MODIFICATIONS BEFORE DISCHARGING THE CAPACITOR, FAILING TO DO SO MAY LEAD TO SEVER INJURY OR DEATH
BEFORE DISCHARGING ENSURE THE MICROWAVE'S POWER CORD IS UNPLUGGED!!!

ALWAYS EXPERIMENT OUTSIDE AND AWAY FROM BUILDINGS WITH PLENTY OF FRESH AIR AND HAVE A BUCKET OF WATER NEAR BY INCASE OF FIRE

Run an extension cord out to your microwave, that way if the controll circuits fuse open you can safely shut off the device by unplugging the extension cord from the wall.

Also be careful, microwaves can cause cataracs, sterility, cancers, burns, and some other stuff from what i've read when used improperly

1 - place a styrofoam cup upside down in the microwave and place a junk cd/dvd foil side up on top of it, set the microwave for 3 to 5 seconds

2 - place a burned out light bulb in a cup of water and place it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds - if you dont put the water in with it the bulb will explode and may very well anyways, hence why your using a garbage microwave

3 - pop cans arc and make for a pretty cool light show

4 - an empty coffiee can, such as maxwell house will burn off it's label if left in long enough


Use your head, anyting metal burns pretty cool, but never put anything that may be explosive in there.

For example we, being recient high school graduates, decided to put a oil based insect repelling candle in there.
It didn't explode but it caught fire and melted down the microwave
The door melted and flames shot out the side vent of the cooking cavety.


[edit on 18-4-2006 by mrjones]

Something I want to know is how was this water microwaved?
If it was microwaved in a plastic cup then you have your anwser right there as to why the plant droops, it's being poisoned by the chemicals from the plastic.

To perform this experiment propper you would need to use a glass cup.



I do not believe microwaving food is any more harmful than any other method of cooking as all it does is cause the water molecules to vibrate to generate heat, in simplest terms.

Water is a polar molecule and the microwave causes the water to rapidly change polarity, thus generating heat.

The only way you are going to get cancer from this method is if you:
a: cook in plastic (the carcinigens come from the plastic)
b: short the safety switches and opperate it while the door is open and stand in fornt of it
c: well, those 2 are about it

I eat the vast majority of my food from the microwave and I'm still healthy.

Slightly unrelated, but I have found that my wireless network (standard 802.11g) is consistantly trashed when my microwave is running. Microwaves are supposedly shielded, yet there is a definate correlation. The effect is similiar to that of my 2GHz (microwave!) wireless phone. the 802.11x standard calls for a 2GHz frequency.

Not totally sure what this is good for but definately interesting.

I will do some investigating as to how much interference it takes to kill a connection, but TCP has pretty good error checking...

Maybe this is a last ditch effort by microwave companies to stop this getting out

Well i looked at the pic and i noticed something interesting. The soil is 2 different colors. Now what it seems like to me is that the microwaved plant (darker soil) is either A: getting to much water or B: Different soil was used for each plant.

If it is 2 soils then both have different levels of nutrients plants use like PK and nitro levels. Now if plant A is getting to much water and it's roots are oversaturated this can also kill it as well.

Microwaves are pretty harmless too. See how it works is it has a device called a magnatron and this is what will heat the water. Now instead of using a heat source to excite the molecules in the water to get it to heat up you blast it with a magnatron. Seriously though there is so many sources microwave radiation around us all the time it is unescapable literally.

Originally posted by glastonaut
Just be careful when microwaving water...

Superheating and Microwave Ovens

This is the only TRUE thing you need to look out for when heating water in a microwave. Even the MythBusters tested this one. Even so, there are enough ions in our water that keep it from splattering when you mix stuff into it. However, if you take ultra-pure-super-happy-reverse-osmosis water (the kind that can actually kill you if you drink too much) it is so pure that it splatters violently when stuff is added to it after being boiled. But if you were to drink it cold, it is so pure that an osmotic imbalance would occur at the cellular level, and the cell would accept too much water to balance the internal and external ion content, and cytolysis would ensue. Pop!

I am waiting to see if get a response to several questions we all have. The circumstances in which they did this test, and containers, etc.

Hope i hear soon. I will share it all (of course) with you.

Holy crap...
I'll have to find a chance to try reproduce that experiment and see for myself

Wow -

After reading all of the posted links on plastics, their chemical compounds, exposure to our foods and the effects of microwaving plastics I honestly have to say that I'm shocked.

I, probably along with many others, have been duped by plastics companies, the FDA and other associated regulatory "authorities".

However, rant aside - microwaving the water in the plastic container caused the negative side effects on the plant experiment. That much, atleast in my opinion is obvious.

On the science side, it's still interesting to note the side effects of microwaving water - i wish we had some input on chemisty majors here. I'm not a big buff on chemistry, but I wonder if microwaves (the actual wave, not the unit) effect the valence or atomic (or even subatomic) composition of the hydrogen / oxygen atoms and their associated electrons - and how this compares to other, more conventional means of heating water.

Anyway - grats to the young woman who attempted the experiment. Free and Independent thinking - gotta love it !

I beleive this test was not accurate again you can clearly see the difference in the photo's. in every photo the soils look different one looks like it received more water. The one that looks like it was watered more was the microwaved one. There are many things that can cause a plant to die including overwatering and soil conditions. Ever since microwaves came out people have been saying things about them. Since you are not changing the molecular structure of water it should have no effect on plants or animals. This test was clearly not done in controlled enviroments which means it's validity is pretty well shot down.

This test if recreated by someone should:

A: measure the amounts of water used

B: use same type of soil

c: soil must be tested for PK and other chemical properties and nutrients daily

d: must be in green house or other hydroponic set up which can be easily made for cheap.

I am somewhat of a gardener and i do have experience growing plants in controlled enviroments. It does not take an expert Horticultural engineer or botonologist to see that the results of that experiment were sketchy at best.

Originally posted by Ralph_The_Wonder_Llama
This is the only TRUE thing you need to look out for when heating water in a microwave. Even the MythBusters tested this one. Even so, there are enough ions in our water that keep it from splattering when you mix stuff into it. However, if you take ultra-pure-super-happy-reverse-osmosis water (the kind that can actually kill you if you drink too much) it is so pure that it splatters violently when stuff is added to it after being boiled. But if you were to drink it cold, it is so pure that an osmotic imbalance would occur at the cellular level, and the cell would accept too much water to balance the internal and external ion content, and cytolysis would ensue. Pop!

Not so much, my mom had it happen to her when she was microwaving her coffiee in the morning.
It didn't explode violently as to what you are refering to, but the cup of coffiee looked fine and began to instantly boil as soon as she moved it.

6 plants.

2 with microwaved water in a plastic cup - dead.

2 with microwaved water in a coffee cup - healthy

2 with tap water - healthy


Each was watered the same amount with the water at room temperature. As suspected, the microwaved water in a plastic cup killed 2 plants that were sprouted about 3 inches tall.

Maybe I was get super veggies from the other 2 micowaved watered plants.

Enjoy

If plastic can do that for plants, how much does a plastic pot hurt the plants?

Originally posted by mrjones

..
I do not believe microwaving food is any more harmful than any other method of cooking as all it does is cause the water molecules to vibrate to generate heat, in simplest terms.

No, that's oversimplified, because, first you're not just heating water and secondly, homeopathic medicine shows that water has some kind of 'memory'. discard this warning all you like, but i will show you a an old post of mine with lots of references which clearly state that biologic matter is affected in additional ways by microwave, not just by heat (the large scale effect)

www.abovetopsecret.com...

disclaimer: i don't know if this experiment was conducted properly, to me, the results appear too surreal, tbh, but then again truth is crazier than fiction, isn't it?

That last tid bit was AWESOME!! I have been telling people for years microwaves were horrible. I wont even stand in front of one! Dont be afraid to be different, only fear to be one of them.....

yeh me too i never stand near them when they are on, can feel the heat blazing out, people barely know what microwaves are never mind what they do.

I think they mutate the genes like Xrays do. f the water samples could be analysed before and after by an electron microscope im sure we would see a difference. and i dread to think what MW food does to our DNA...... thats why i avoid them totally, pure laziness heating your tea water in it! just use a kettle and wait a few minutes longer.