Capitalize on tasty microwave recipes that explode in the microwave for effect, mixing or timing. The book gives tips on how to prevent them from messing up your microwave or atleast how to clean up after them better.
I have actual recipes like...
Cheese Eggs-plosion Omelette
Sausage Soup Kaboom
Nuclear S'mores-- sartep, Jul 03 2003 Grape plasma http://c3po.barneso...ge/lpl/grapeplasma/Don't blame me if it all goes horribly wrong... [saker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Hot water http://news.bbc.co....ornwall/3035606.stmSorry. This is really grim, but I mean it as a caution. [saker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] (?) Hot Lava http://volcano.und....3/question1585.htmlNot sure what the above scalding water link has to do with this idea. But even worse that hot water is burning HOT LAVA! What if you stuck your hand in THAT??!! [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Over heating a rock in the microwave doesn't make much mess when it explodes. It also makes less of a boom and more of a BAM!, when it violently cleaves in half.-- Tiger Lily, Jul 03 2003 You put a rock in the microwave? A CD is more interesting to watch. 7-10 seconds is all you need, along with good ventilation.-- sartep, Jul 03 2003 Unfortunatley, [sartep], I did. Thankfully, no one got hurt! I had previously explained to my children that blue topaz is commonly produced from microwaving yellow citrine. Some time later my daughter inspired me with her thoughtful questions about microwaving common rock, so, I proposed we test *her* hypothesis. I think she had been hoping for a little rocks-to-riches magic.
I am looking forward to microwaving a CD. Thanks for the tip.
By the way, I think this could be a hit with the mad kitchen-scientist crowd!-- Tiger Lily, Jul 03 2003 DON'T DO THIS:
Take a new glass Bodoum (sp?) mug. Clean thoroughly and wipe with alcohol. Fill with distilled/ demineralised water. Microwave till almost boiling.
Add freeze-dried instant coffee power.
Water will boil explosively, showering vvvv hot scalding water all over.
Lesson (1) Microwaving water that has nothing to seed bubbles will achieve superheating. Adding coffee powder which has a large surface area will allow the water to boil instantly.
Lesson (2) Playing with microwaves will send you to the ER.-- FloridaManatee, Jul 03 2003 [link]
Try this at home. I did, and it actually worked. Inspirational.
[2nd link]
Don't try this at home. Don't even read this if you are at all squeamish. It's a cautionary tale of the hazards of hot water. You have been warned.-- saker, Jul 03 2003 Popcorn?-- phoenix, Jul 03 2003 Is there any food that DOESN'T explode in the microwave?That will be a useful book. +-- Amos Kito, Jul 03 2003 101 ways to blow up your micro-wave.-- po, Jul 03 2003 Microwave Door Remover Req'd: One raw egg in shell. 1. Place egg in microwave. 2. Set timer for 5 minutes on high. 3. Run like hell.-- pluterday, Jul 04 2003 Tiger Lily: you were misinformed, I think. Yellow citrine is often made by heating common or garden amethyst. Blue topaz is made by subjecting colorless topaz to ionizing radiation and heating it. While you might well try baking low value stones to make them valuable, I wouldn't recommend irradiating them in your kitchen, and I certainly wouldn't recommend messing with a stone like citrine that is already fairly valuable. You should also do it in the oven, not the microwave, so it heats up and cools down more slowly; and since there is a lot out there on the Internet about it, I'd suggest reading up on it first rather than experimenting blindly.-- DrCurry, Jul 04 2003 Dr. Curry is correct. Sometimes people try to sell citrine as topaz. Citrine being a quartz mineral is mostly made up of SiO2, topaz is Al 2 SiO 4 (F, OH) 3. Topaz is also on average one level higher on the hardness scale.-- sartep, Jul 04 2003 You are correct DrCurry. I had meant to write, "a stone that looks like a (pale) yellow citrine."
[sartep], You must have annotated while I was typing this up!
However, topaz is more valuable than citrine, hands down. Citrine and amethyst are names for two of the colors occurring in regular quartz. Both quartz and topaz are silicate based gemstones but citrine is silicon dioxide, SiO2, while topaz is an hydrous aluminum silicate, or hydroxy-flouro-aluminum silicate, Al2(SiO4)(F,OH)2.
The part about micro-waving topaz was my over generalized and technically incorrect anecdote to explain the process of irradiation to my then 5 and 6 year old at the time. This came about because I enjoy encouraging my children to explore curiosities and also because I was once was a jeweler.
When proof reading my annotation, the comment probably didn't raise a flag in my brain because yellow citrine is often sold as golden topaz by unscrupulous jewelers!
As far as experimenting with my microwave? Absolutely! I am completely immune to the stigma of natural precious and semi-precious stones produced under current industry trends. I prefer a moderately inky, occluded, untreated emerald with a few tiny fractions and a poor man's social history compared to the dyed and resin-glued emerald-wanna-be-divas mostly found today.
- I am seriously thinking of trying pluterday's exploding microwave door pastime! My microwave is ten years old and the latch works occasionally while some of the plastic frame has broken off on the door assembly. I'll have my kids take it to the yard and run a 16/3 50 ft. extension to it then film from a distance. What a fun excuse to get a new one! It will also be worth every new penny come fall when school starts up again...-- Tiger Lily, Jul 04 2003 It is amusing when we type out the same thing at the same time.
Definately try the CD microwaving first. Beautiful to watch and it makes a neat souvenir afterwards but I don't want to spoil what looks like. I assure you that it is not dangerous.-- sartep, Jul 04 2003 you peopel scare me...-- Arcanus, Mar 12 2010 regular old-fashioned light bulbs are my favorite.
flourescent bulbs small enough to fit are a close second, though I havn't tried any of those newfangled compact ones with the built-in drivers yet.-- AutoMcDonough, Mar 12 2010 Steven Seagull's patented microwave door remover:
1. Place coin or other metallic object in base of cup 2. Fill cup with strong alcoholic beverage, covering coin 3. Set microwave to high, many minutes 4. Kill power to room, depart. 5. Bad guys enter room, restore power 6. Hilarity ensues
NB step 4 will only work on a microwave with a mechanical timer.-- BunsenHoneydew, Mar 19 2010 random, halfbakery