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Shawn P. Good
 
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Default Sparking vegetables in microwave

Ok - here's a strange one. My wife diced up about a quarter of a green
peper this morning and put it in our 10-year-old Hotpoint vented
counter-saver microwave (Model RVM125K003) to soften them before adding them
to an omlette. I heard her scream from the kitchen and ran in to see the
green peppers jumping and sparking, with flames shooting out of the dices.
There were no sparks in the microwave itself - they were only coming from
the vegetables.

At first I thought there must be some metal in the bowl. I took the bowl
out, diced up another green pepper, put it in a different bowl, popped it
back in - same thing. So I started doing a serious of experiments. I diced
up a carrot, put it in a different bowl again - and the same thing happened.
Flames and sparks shooting from the carrots, but nowhere else in the
microwave. After letting it go only 4 or 5 seconds, when I took it out, the
carrots were singed black in spots. On to another vegetable - this time a
diced stalk of celery. Same result. Sparks and flames from the vegetable.
I moved on to a slice of bread - this time no sparks or flames, but within
seconds steam started coming from the bread. At first I thought it was
smoke, but it didn't smell like smoke, so I think it was steam. Then I put
in just a plain bowl of water and it started steaming pretty fast too. Some
leftover soup from the fridge didn't do anything.

A quick search on the internet revealed that some vegetables can contain
trace amounts of minerals which can cause sparks and flames, and they finger
carrots and green peppers (see
http://website.lineone.net/~stolarczyk/trivia2.html and page down to the ICY
SPARKS FROM YOUR CARROTS section and also see
http://www.public.coe.edu/department.../research.html and page down
to the FOOD CHEMISTRY section).

Anyways, in 10 years of cooking in this microwave, it has never happened
before. I'm wondering if this is a sign my microwave is about to die. So
my questions to the group are :

1) Anyone else experience this ? What was your determination/solution ?
2) Is my microwave about to die ?
3) Should I keep using it, or is my microwave maybe focusing it's waves to a
dangerous point

Thanks to all for reading this.

Shawn


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HerHusband
 
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Default Sparking vegetables in microwave

Hotpoint vented counter-saver microwave
green peppers jumping and sparking


It's possible there were small metallic particles in the peppers, from the
soil, harvesting equipment, processing machinery, or whatever. I had that
happen once or twice, but it's rare.

This also happens occasionally with paper towels that use recycled paper.
Little metal particles end up in the paper and spark like you mentioned. Of
course, paper is flammable, and this has been known to start fires in
microwaves. Though, in all honesty, I have never seen this happen myself.

Then I put in just a plain bowl of water and it
started steaming pretty fast too.


I'm not familiar with your microwave, but if you do not have a turntable I
would guess the system that distributes the microwaves has failed. This is
typically a rotating metal reflector, under a cover on the top side of the
microwave cavity that distributes the microwaves around the cavity. If it
stops turning the microwaves all get beamed into a single spot in the
microwave.

Try putting the water/food in a different location in the oven and see if
you get the same results. I'm guessing it'll cook differently, in which
case it's probably time to have the oven serviced. It's usually a fairly
simple repair, but you'll need to weigh the cost of the repair against the
cost of a new oven.

Anthony
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David Babcock
 
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Default Sparking vegetables in microwave

With the price of Nukes these days I sure wouldn't want to chance a ten year
old one. Especially one acting like yours

Dave

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
t...
Ok - here's a strange one. My wife diced up about a quarter of a green
peper this morning and put it in our 10-year-old Hotpoint vented
counter-saver microwave (Model RVM125K003) to soften them before adding

them
to an omlette. I heard her scream from the kitchen and ran in to see the
green peppers jumping and sparking, with flames shooting out of the dices.
There were no sparks in the microwave itself - they were only coming from
the vegetables.

At first I thought there must be some metal in the bowl. I took the bowl
out, diced up another green pepper, put it in a different bowl, popped it
back in - same thing. So I started doing a serious of experiments. I

diced
up a carrot, put it in a different bowl again - and the same thing

happened.
Flames and sparks shooting from the carrots, but nowhere else in the
microwave. After letting it go only 4 or 5 seconds, when I took it out,

the
carrots were singed black in spots. On to another vegetable - this time a
diced stalk of celery. Same result. Sparks and flames from the

vegetable.
I moved on to a slice of bread - this time no sparks or flames, but within
seconds steam started coming from the bread. At first I thought it was
smoke, but it didn't smell like smoke, so I think it was steam. Then I

put
in just a plain bowl of water and it started steaming pretty fast too.

Some
leftover soup from the fridge didn't do anything.

A quick search on the internet revealed that some vegetables can contain
trace amounts of minerals which can cause sparks and flames, and they

finger
carrots and green peppers (see
http://website.lineone.net/~stolarczyk/trivia2.html and page down to the

ICY
SPARKS FROM YOUR CARROTS section and also see
http://www.public.coe.edu/department.../research.html and page

down
to the FOOD CHEMISTRY section).

Anyways, in 10 years of cooking in this microwave, it has never happened
before. I'm wondering if this is a sign my microwave is about to die. So
my questions to the group are :

1) Anyone else experience this ? What was your determination/solution ?
2) Is my microwave about to die ?
3) Should I keep using it, or is my microwave maybe focusing it's waves to

a
dangerous point

Thanks to all for reading this.

Shawn




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Dan Hartung
 
Posts: n/a
Default Sparking vegetables in microwave

Shawn P. Good wrote:
Ok - here's a strange one. My wife diced up about a quarter of a green
peper this morning and put it in our 10-year-old Hotpoint vented
counter-saver microwave (Model RVM125K003) to soften them before adding them
to an omlette. I heard her scream from the kitchen and ran in to see the
green peppers jumping and sparking, with flames shooting out of the dices.
There were no sparks in the microwave itself - they were only coming from
the vegetables.


===quote===
Dr. Dean and her students, as well as others, have observed that grapes,
carrots, and many other fruits or vegetables, when cut and placed next
to one another and heated in a microwave oven, will spark with
considerable size and duration. There is no ready explanation for this
phenomenon in the physics or chemical literature. There may be a
correlation among the dielectric constant, sample size and shape,
moisture content for different foods, and the amount of sparking that
takes place in the microwave field. In addition, the phenomenon can be
modeled using salt solutions to mimic those present in a typical fruit
or vegetable cell. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a cut edge of the
fruit or vegetable must be present, touching that of another cut edge,
for the phenomenon to occur. This phenomenon seems similar to that of
the 'edge effect' where electrons congregate at the sharp edges and
point of a metal in an electric field and can discharge via a spark to
another edge or point nearby.
===end quote===

http://www.public.coe.edu/department.../research.html

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Jim Elbrecht
 
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Default Sparking vegetables in microwave

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 04:12:59 GMT, "David Babcock"
wrote:

With the price of Nukes these days I sure wouldn't want to chance a ten year
old one. Especially one acting like yours


And if you decide to replace it, don't do what I did and just throw it
out. [I've been kicking myself for 3 years and hope this one doesn't
last as long]

A microwave deserves a glorious end. Preferably videotaped from a
safe distance. Microwave some eggs. Try an aerosal can; [are
there plastic ones?] a sealed jar of peanut butter; a light bulb; a
lava lamp--- anything.

There is probably a Usenet group or web site dedicated to 'things you
can do with your dying microwave', but I'm too sad about mine to look.

Please don't let your microwave just go to the dump. If you have no
sense of adventure call the local High School or university. Their
Science department should be able to find a use for it. [hmmm-- VT,
eh? How far are you from Albany, NY? I could dispose of it for you.
g]

Jim
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