Microwave Fire

[bhammer]

Re: Microwave Fire

For reason of saftey, I have to disagree. Putting metals in a microwave oven can be very dangerous.

Some metallic items, coatings and untensils, including some thermometers, are specially designed to be used in microwaves. Regular metallic items are not and can arc, overheat and may catch fire.

The metallic walls of the oven, create the microwave "cavity", reflecting the microwaves only, to whatever is in there to absorb the RF. That's why a microwave oven should never be ran empty.

Here is a microwave trivia question: Why don't the microwaves leak out through the glass door?

Agree, but it was just a simply point that you CAN place metal in the wave... Not that you should. Some metal will excite too much and get hotter then heck.

In answer to your trivia question... That screen with the holes in it keep the waves inside because the wave length is larger than the holes. They just can't get out them smaller holes. Make them bigger and you'd cook standing there at the door.

 

[arboldt]

Re: Microwave Fire

A couple issues...

1) There are a few instances when small amounts of foil in a microwave are appropriate, such as covering the ends of a chicken drumstick. This keeps the joint end from overcooking while the rest of the meat gets cooked. The principle is the percentage of heatable food to reflective surface. A small amount of metal surface to a much larger amount of heatable mass can actually make a better / more even heating. However, that same amount of reflective metal, if spread over a sufficiently large surface area of the same mass, can be a disaster (as you discovered).

2) I would be be concerned about your daughter. No doubt she did as she had been taught in school etc, but there is also a point of common sense. To change the situation slightly -- suppose a small amount of oil heating in a skillet ignited. Would she run at that point (and endanger the rest of the kitchen and house) or merely put the cover on the pan, thus extinguishing the fire? Every rule and guideline is a balance of opposing wisdom, so the question really comes down to whether or not she demonstrates good, practical common sense in other situations.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Microwave Fire

I did however steal your picture you posted. Love it and I am sure it will come in handy later.

That came straight out of my Husky chainsaw manual and is by far my favorite "safety pic"...

 

[mscher]

Re: Microwave Fire

That came straight out of my Husky chainsaw manual and is by far my favorite "safety pic"...

Gotta have em

I just read read on some hummingbird food (which is just sugar-water) -

"Do not feed artificial sweetners to hummingbirds, as they will suffer malnutrition"

 

[bhammer]

Re: Microwave Fire

Gotta have em

I just read read on some hummingbird food (which is just sugar-water) -

"Do not feed artificial sweeteners to hummingbirds, as they will suffer malnutrition"

I wonder if this is the makers of the "food" pushing this. I'll have to google it.

We tried that last year. We bought another feeder and it came with food. We hung up both of them; one with the included food and the other with red colored sugar water. the birds finished the sugar water several times before the real food was gone. I'll stick with sugar water and let the birds find other nutrients elsewhere.

 

[mscher]

Re: Microwave Fire

I wonder if this is the makers of the "food" pushing this. I'll have to google it.

We tried that last year. We bought another feeder and it came with food. We hung up both of them; one with the included food and the other with red colored sugar water. the birds finished the sugar water several times before the real food was gone. I'll stick with sugar water and let the birds find other nutrients elsewhere.

Pre-made hummingbird food is simply a convenience rip-off.

Suger and water, mixed at home, is the same thing minus the coloring. That's what we use and they have started coming in!

FYI, the sugar is what the hummers need, for all that wing flapping!!

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Microwave Fire

Gotta have em

I just read read on some hummingbird food (which is just sugar-water) -

"Do not feed artificial sweetners to hummingbirds, as they will suffer malnutrition"

Sugar is not an artificial sweetener. See, hummingbirds burn up a LOT of calories, and they have to replace them quickly... if you were to feed them splenda water, or equal water, or whatever brand of artificial sweetener that has no calories, the hummingbird would die of starvation in just a little while, thinking it was getting calories from the sweetened water, while it wasn't. Hence the warning label.