Soap Souffle

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:08 pm

Saw this on the science show 'Head Games'. Really cool microwave entertainment. Just be sure to use a bar of plain 'Ivory Soap' if you try it yourselves because it's the only soap bar that's full of whipped air (it floats in water) and doesn't contain a boatload of perfume ('royally stink up the house if you nuked it' mistake). Follow the wikihow directions below:

http://www.wikihow.com/Expand-Ivory-Soap

S13driftAZ · Post by **S13driftAZ** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:07 pm

I herd about this before but I was not told about it needing to be ivory soap. S13driftAZ was not pleased.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:43 pm

What happened? Big stink bomb?

I tried it with a half bar of Ivory soap so that it wouldn't fill up the microwave. VERY COOL LOOKING! Fun to play with too, like a soft soapy marshmallow!

S13driftAZ · Post by **S13driftAZ** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:43 pm

S13driftAZ's microwave smelt awful

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 12:08 am

\"Is it a good idea to microwave this?\" youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jpizzle1122?blend=1&ob=4

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:43 pm

S13driftAZ wrote:S13driftAZ's microwave smelt awful

Well, the moral is that if you want to experiment nuking things with the microwave, use one that you're not going to be cooking food in.

Nice Lothar, and I didn't even have to trash my own microwave to see the results! Everything you always wanted to know would happen if you were stupid enough to nuke it.......

S13driftAZ · Post by **S13driftAZ** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:06 pm

I saw the video where they nuked a Pepsi and I was very disappointed. I wanted to see an explosion.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:32 pm

You should watch Mythbusters. They blow up more microwave ovens........

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:44 pm

Incidentally, did you know that microwaves have radioactive material in them? Not lots, but there is some. There's some in your smoke detectors as well.

S13driftAZ · Post by **S13driftAZ** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:28 pm

Interesting

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:59 pm

Duper wrote:Incidentally, did you know that microwaves have radioactive material in them? Not lots, but there is some. There's some in your smoke detectors as well.

Microwave ovens don't contain any radioactive material that I've heard of. The magnetron only generates microwaves using electricity and magnetic fields. The only radiation you can get exposed to is if the door seal leaks out microwaves.

http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/magnetron.html

However, you're right about most smoke detectors. They DO contain a small amount of Americium, which IS radioactive.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf57.html

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:59 pm

yeah, i know. I worked in a place that made them.

I've also torn microwaves apart that have radioactive warnings on shielded housings on the inside. These were older microwaves.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:24 pm

What was the radioactive substance used for in the microwave Duper?

S13driftAZ · Post by **S13driftAZ** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:53 pm

tunnelcat wrote:What was the radioactive substance used for in the microwave Duper?

Duh, to make the thingy go keblowie-klablam to make food go hot.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:35 am

*shrug*. I'm not an electrical engineer and i didn't bother cracking it open.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:39 am

Are you sure it wasn't just a reference to the microwave radiation that the magnetron emits? That label doesn't necessarily mean that you have a chunk of radioactive matter sitting there.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:20 pm

S13driftAZ wrote:Duh, to make the thingy go keblowie-klablam to make food go hot

*sigh* I'm referring to the unpowered components of the oven that may or may not contain an active radioactive metal, not the microwaves that are produced when you turn on the oven.

I can't find ANY reference to a radioactive substance as being part of the maganetron or other components themselves, even in older ovens. Only the MICROWAVES PRODUCED by the magnetron when it's energized put out the ionizing radiation that THEN cooks the food. If any microwaves were to leak out of the door seal or other hole, then you could be exposed to harmful radiation. There's no radiation exposure from any component if you were to take a POWERED DOWN or UNPLUGGED microwave apart. I even have an old magnetron I took from a microwave I had to repair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavity_magnetron

Smoke detectors DO have very small amounts of americium-241 in them, which IS radioactive. Here's a few others to look out for:

http://www.hps.org/publicinformation/at ... ducts.html

And the PDF:

http://www.hps.org/documents/consumerproducts.pdf

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:59 pm

yeah, i know. I spent 2 hours looking my self. Some pretty cool stuff. All I know is what i saw when I cracked those open. Like I said, they were old models... late 80's models iirc. I closed them back up and gave them back to my co-worker.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:12 am

I've got a circa 1983 microwave that I had to fix. I thought it was a bad magnetron, so I replaced it. But the problem turned out to be a bad power diode, so I left in the new magnetron since it was such a b*tch to install and it didn't cost that much. The thing is still working to this day. I decided to keep the old magnetron since I figured it was still good. I might try to borrow a geiger counter and see if it contains any radioactive material. I can't imagine what other part would contain such a substance.

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