Popping corn with cell phones?

Originally posted by mdiinican

I can tell you that it certainly doesn't work with samsung SCH-u540s and RAZRs, and I suspect Quazga of being a disinformant or troll.

[edit on 7-6-2008 by mdiinican]

I second that notion. I tried it with my LG and I couldn't get it to work for the life of me. My phone doesn't have an antenna though, it's just one solid piece.

Hasn't he said you need more than one phone? Do any of the videos show them using only one phone?
I'm not saying it's absolutely true since I haven't tried it, but you're doing a pretty bad job of picking flaws.

reply to post by alaskan


You're right. I did use only my phone..but really though, who goes around using two or more cell phones at once. And if two or more cell phones are required to pop a kernel of corn, then I think we'll be okay from the big bad microwaves. I've been using a cell phone for the past 8 years and my head has yet to explode, so I think I'll be alright. And like DaleGribble said, who cares. Cell phones are cheaper than landlines and there seems to be no pandemic of cell phones causing any problems other than in this thread. Well, actually I do recall one episode in the news a while back where a cell phone exploded in a guys pocket, killing him in Japan or something, but that is a completely different story.

I don't think anybody said anything about heads exploding either.
How many people only talk on their phones for seconds at a time? A lot probably, but a lot more talk foreverrrrr.

This just gives more validity to the argument that using a cell phone heats up your brain or at least microwaves it a bit. I don't think microwaves are good for you period.

A brain/head/face that gets microwaved for an hour a day is probably a lot more likely to develop something related to being microwaved than one that isn't. That makes some sense, right?

Cheap or not, you can't say that it's completely harmful, and these videos are a good illustration of that.*

*If they're not fake





[edit on 7-6-2008 by alaskan]

reply to post by alaskan


I agree with what your saying and you have a valid point. People that use cell phones can be more likely to develop some sort of brain problem, but I'm saying that I haven't seen or heard anything to back that up scientifically. Although it is logical. If someone has any evidence of this they should provide a link to it, as it would be helpful. And it would be more credible if it wasn't a youtube video. I would look it up but I really don't have time right now. I'm about to leave and go handle some business for the rest of the day.

Wow, I cant believe this. I'll have to try it sometime. I hope some of
you post your results for us. It will be very interesting.

So could cell phones be used as weapons. I mean, what would happen
if this was done to someones hand? Could be very scary.

I hate cell phones. I keep one in my car for emergencies.
I never bring it in the house with me. Maybe I should keep it turned
off in my car.

I was at the airport a few weeks ago, my goodness, almost everybody
was on a cell phone , waiting for a southwest flight. I felt like the odd
one. I could imagine what someone from a poor country would think
if they saw such a sight.

My keyboard and mouse are wireless. I wonder if I should switch back
to the old ones.

Very interesting.

It's a viral campaign. What for I dunno.

Here's the give aways:

1. Notice the erratic camera movement. It's done to spice up the clips a tad. If you were doing a documentation of this crap wouldn't you mount the cam or at least hold it still??
The camera movement is consistent in all clips.
Also notice how close in we go when the corn pops. We are able to see the transformation in some of the clips, but they all jump out of the view and then reappear on their way down or after they have landed. This it done to minimize the amount of motion tracking needed in After Effects. They actually did a pretty decent job.
I would put my money on the tables looking so clean and even surfaced that this makes it easier to cut out the unpopped corn afterwards.

Or there could be a heater under them


2. Funny how it is SO international. I mean, if anything shouts "This is real!!11!!" it has to be the sheer amount of different types of people right? NO! Basic marketing strategy... how many times do you see posters or tv shows where the persons involved for some reason are of every nationality?

3. This one gave it to me.... most (if not all) of the people who posted these clips on YouTube joined last week......

The speed of which this video is travelling is too high. Try googling it. Everyone has picked up on this. It's easy to swallow (hohoho) for most people because it's something everyday kinda of thing. Everyone loves popcorn...


Go back.... see the clips again... then ask yourself "am I really that gullible?"

I was part of a viral campaign a month or so ago. When done well, everyone buys it, and us that are a part of it have a great laugh...


EDIT: Oh... and if you're defending this, then I guess you are one of the perpetrators of this campaign. Though! I will admit I enjoyed this one

I wonder how many kids are walking around talking about the Germans shooting a BMW from Germany to the states by a ramp....

EDIT EDIT: Oh... sure, I'll go try now. We are 3 people here and that should be enough eh? If it does work I promise I'll eat my hat instead of the corn... *gulp*

[edit on 7/6/08 by flice]

[edit on 7/6/08 by flice]

Tried it with three phones...

And it didn't work. How could I of guessed.

I don't think there's enough energy in a hundred cell phones to pop popcorn.

Has anyone touched a freshly popped kernel? It's pretty hot.

They did it with 4 phones in each of the videos. It only took a few seconds to pop the corn. That's quite a bit of energy transfer.

Microwaves are cumulative. The longer something is exposed the more heat builds up.

I'm no mathematician, but this sounds like an equality.

4 phones with a few seconds exposure = heat.
1 phone with a few seconds exposure multiplied by 4 = same heat.

And extended.
1 phone with the time multiplied by 400 = A LOT of heat.

Someone would have fried something by now. I've talked on a cell for over an hour at a time. I don't have crispy ears.

One more thing, microwaves DON'T heat from the inside out. That was a misunderstanding that started when they first came out. Microwaves strike the outside and thermal conduction transfers heat inside.

Three different LOOKING videos from ONE source all coming out at the same time = hoax.

So far I've seen everything from:

someone calling someone a troll.
viral campain
Can't work because.......
Gotta get me some popcorn!
Tried with 1 phone (didn't work)
Tried with 2 (worked)
And a anon post 'try it yourself'
AFTER my post stating 'I don't have the 'resorces'

I found the videos and was impressed AFTER the third.
Brought it here because there are a lot of people I trust here who in turn have people they trust etc.
I don't have the resorses to (phones/people) to try it myself or I would have taped it and brought it here.

Interesting results so far.

I'll even say please.
Someone who has the resorses (phones/people/POPCORN :lol try it out!

Set it up as in the vids 4 phones, antenna pointinward, popcorn in the center.

Start the camcorder! Make sure it's on a tripod so it doesn't move like someone was holding a camcorder at a party or something.

Make the calls.

Here's something I was wondering about. Does they HAVE to be incoming calls? Would outgoing calls work better/same/worse? If it works at all.

But please TRY it before you call fake. I doesn't much to me either way but I'm VERY courious. Give it a or

I bielive it to be true because inside each kernel is luch a small amount of moisture that needs to flash to steam to make it pop.

Thanks all

Well, I did my little test, as promised.

As suspected, the 4-phone test didn't pop any corn. It didn't even wiggle them. Nor were they measureably warm in comparison to the ambient temperature. The 4 phones were a Blackberry Curve, Konka MP5, Nokia 9300, and Nokia clamshell. Two calls were made consecutively to all phones at the same time. No pop. All phones were charged.

Next, all phones were turned over and tried again. Zip.

Next, all phones were rotated 180 degrees. zippo. We tried to keep each phone approximately 2" from the small kernal pile.

Next, we did the same thing again, and I put my [organic] finger in the place where the kernels were. No noticable change in temperature, perception, etc.

I believe this to be a hoaxed event, however, it was a very well done one. As I said before, I think the tables in each of the three videos that don't allow you to look beneath them, plus the rapidity of the popped kernels were warning signs. Thanks to the OP for bringing this to our attention!

reply to post by argentus


THANK YOU!

Not knowing a lot about cell phones, did they all have those nub antennas on the top? Guess I'd better take a closer look at the videos. I felt it was possible with the microwaves. I just thought it looked so cool, I have to share this . Anyone else going to try? It would be SO cool if it turned out to be real but I'm begining to have mt doubts.

Thanks again

reply to post by DenverMan


You mean... do it two-three times... just in case it didn't work the first time?
Spread the word to some more people so the viral clips can get some more exposure and have them test it just in case our phones sucked / were low on bat / had antennas between 2-7 cm / were black with silver / had a piece of "bling" on em / had marks from opening a beer with them / because it rained that day?

Don't believe everything you see on YouTube, not even if it looks cool.

well most of the phones in the videos didn't have those antennas. My phones didn't, they had a patch antenna on the back. I tried it with the phones facing in towards the corn (like in all the videos), and then with the antennas facing in towards the corn.

I did not try all the antennas facing AWAY from the corn, which is how cellphones are held relative to a person's head.

Just as I outlined with math, it didn't even get warm.


Also: it's very unlikely that long term low level microwave exposure does anything to a person. Microwaves are low energy RF, like radio, and, as radiation, are more harmless than visible light and IR. They can warm tissue, which could cause cell damage, but a cellphone only puts out about 2W, and it takes 4.18 joules to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius, it's probably not going to warm your head up enough to notice it, let alone enough to start denaturing proteins and nucleic acids in your cells.

The majority of evidence suggests that long term low level microwave exposure is harmless, and there is no plausible mechanism by which it could cause cancer. High level microwaves can of course kill, by cooking. This, of course, would happen with infrared or visible light too.

Why would someone on this board claim to have made it work when it doesn't, though? It's not like they are part of the great popcorn cellphone conspiracy, are they?

mdiinican has a really good point, though, with the power comparison and the faraday cage. I did make note of the power difference in my post, but I didn't think of the faraday cage, and neither did I think that a microwave was quite that much power.

After thinking it through, and not at 3 in the morning this time, mdiinican is making more sense than I did. The frequency part makes sense, but the power levels just aren't there. Maybe if you got a couple thousand phones, you could do it :p

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
Why would someone on this board claim to have made it work when it doesn't, though? It's not like they are part of the great popcorn cellphone conspiracy, are they?

Why do people troll websites? Why do people shoot their own teammates on purpose in anonymous online first person shooters? Are they on the payroll of the other team?

No. It's probably just for the fun of it, and to see the reactions. People do a lot of things for reasons other than economic benefit. Some people just like to annoy other people.

reply to post by DenverMan


Only the Konka had a nub on the top -- all the rest are.......nubless. Denubbed.

I suppose to be perfectly scientific, I should have tried positions with the Konka juxtaposed to the rest. I might try this again when we again have two other people here. I have to say, it was kind of like a party favor... all of us were engaged in the process and really wanted to know and had fun with it.

Thanks again ;o)

I just tried it with 4 cell phones and it worked.

Don't worry though, the microwave radiation emitted by cell phones is harmless to you, the only thing it's really harmful is to your eyes.

Your eyes are very sensitive to heat, and can cook easily. The clear parts of your eyes, and the jelly inside of them, can cook very easily and would turn white just like the clear stuff inside of eggs when they cook.

So for safety, I wouldn't put cell phone too close to your eyes, or it might lessen your vision or eventually make you blind.

This is also why in operating manual for microwave ovens, they recommend you do not put your face too close to it and peer inside for long amounts of time.

I used to do that when I was a kid, put my face right up to the microwave oven's window and watch my food cook. My vision is pretty terrible now. Whether there's a connection or not, I don't know, just throwing that out there.

The metal screen that is covering the window of microwave ovens stops most of the microwaves from leaking out, but it doesn't stop them all.





[edit on 8-6-2008 by AgentScmidt]

I have read the comments twice. NO one seems to have picked up on the fact that all the phones were only ringing. Thus they were in receive mode only. Antennas do NOT radiate power where they are receiving, only when they are transmitting. In order to conserve battery power, the makers of the phones would have some type of voice activated transmit mode. So for the phones to be putting out the power needed to pop the corn, someone would have had to “answered” the phone and then been talking on it. DIDN’T see that happen in the videos!!

Regards,
LarryAJ
EE ‘61 ISU (Ames, IA)
Also son of an amateur radio operator - W0PCQ

Ok, if cell phones can pop some corn, and cars can run on corn, then maybe perhaps there is a way to cut the middle corn kernel and have a vehicle that runs on cell phone radiation.

Btw, great corny thread.
Sorry couln't resist.