"jw" wrote in message
oups.com...
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| The real problem area are sharp points that concentrate the microwave
| energy and act as lightening rods and various small pieces of metal like
| twist ties and metallic trim on plates which will overheat.
|
| This is exactly it. As long as there are not regions of significantly
| different potential, there will be no arcs. Smooth transtions will not
| cause arcing.
|
| If you want to prove it tear off a piece of aluminum foil and stick it
| in the microwave. Nothing will happen. Now take the same piece and
| crumple it up and flatten it back out loosely. There will be all sorts
| of wild arcing across the peaks.
|
| JW

I had a microwave with a factory metal rack in it. Messed with some
folks' heads for sure!

For a fun trick, take that AOL CD and nuke it for a second or so. Very
cool patterns. The eddy currents swirling all over the place blow thin
places like fuses, making for some nifty but brief fireworks. If you can
magnify the viewing as much as possible, you will find some really cool
patterns burned into the aluminum film. The surface isn't so smooth
anymore, though!

My 10 year old daughter put a Wendy's burger, with foil wrapper in the
nuker the other day, then walked away. Burned away some of the plastic
coating on the inside of the door screen where the foil came close. I
cleaned up what I could, cut the bad plastic away, and put on some 3" clear
electric tape to make it as invisible as possible. Kinda hard to get the
crud that blew through the grid into the door cavity, though, and it fogs up
on occasion, which is a real PITA. I never saw what the burger and wrapper
looked like; that would have been cool.