• Question: Is it true that if you put a pigen in the microwave it would explode?

    Asked by dandelion to Mike, Tim, Tom on 5 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      First of all, I think that would be a very mean thing to do.
      Things explode in the microwave when the water inside them expands into steam, but can’t get out of the food. Eventually the pressure builds up and breaks out of the food, causing a pop.

      As an aside, you can use marshmallows to measure the wavelength of the microwave oven.
      1) Ask permission in case you make a mess 😉
      2) Take out the turntable
      3) lay the marshmallows out in the oven side-by-side.
      4) Turn the oven on until you see that some begin to melt.
      What you should see is that they only melt in some regions of the oven and not others. This is because the microwave energy forms what’s called a ‘standing wave’ in the oven. The wavelength of the oven is twice the distance between the molten patches of marshmallow.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      That’s a cool idea Tim,

      I would also recommend CDs in the microwave (although it will ruin the CD) because it causes sparks! An egg will explode too, but isn’t fun to clean up.

      I am witholding judgement, but I have a friend who put his cat in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The cat lived another 10 years (it died at 14), and didn’t explode. In my friend’s defense, he was only 4 at the time too. I think the pigeon would be similar… it wouldn’t explode

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