• LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Comically enough, many spoons put in the microwave would be fine. Not recommending you try it, but the issue comes from arcs. And spoons don’t have areas where arcs can occur naturally, like a fork.

      • potoo22@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        To my understanding, the arcing is caused by hard edges. E.g. all the elections could be at the end of a fork’s tines, and EM field forces them to jump to another tine instead of going through the root of the fork.

        Since spoons are rounded, they don’t need to jump. I don’t think the material plays much of a role in arcing other than providing resistance. They would heat up, but they’d melt before they arc. Still, they can arc from one spoon to another spoon when there multiple spoons close enough.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Absolutely. It’s far more likely with a fork, but deep enough or well placed scratches/gouges on a spoon could create the condition.

          • onslaught545@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            It’s unlikely period. Electroboom did a video on it and had one hell of a hard time getting any metal to arc in the microwave, even balled up aluminum foil.

            • emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              3 months ago

              Well that just doesnt make sense, theres only been a couple times ive accidentally put metal in a microwave, but i knew it immediately when i did. I wonder if theyve made changes to the way they function.

              • Caveman@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                There has been no change in the way microwaves work aside from circuit board and adding an inverter to control the power of the microwaves. Microwaves function the same as a laser pointer except the emit photons with a frequency of 2.45GHz.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I’m lazy and don’t use tik tok, but from what I’ve seen when my spouse is on there this would make an interesting tik tok channel (is that what they are called?). Spoon Spark, where someone collects a shit ton of spoons and people take their guess on whether or not they’ll spark or even start a fire. Maybe get different power levels of microwaves to increase to throughout the tournament.

        The E-Waste Arc Spark competition.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You mean like a spoon on a glass or ceramic plate? That seems unlikely.

        There is even companies that make glass/stainless steel lids for their microwave safe containers. So the lids won’t warp like the plastic ones do and have to be thrown away

    • dingus@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      But since there are multiple spoons and other metal items in the microwave, couldn’t these items still arc off of one another? I don’t actually know the answer, so I’m asking seriously.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Oh definitely. Individual metal smooth ball, fine. 10 of them not touching fine. 9 spoons not touching, fine. But if one touches the wall of the microwave or another of the objects there will be a quick spark, and depending on how long the contact, maybe a flame+

        Caveman posted a video below that basically shows without rough edges, your usually okay https://lemmy.world/comment/18066606

        Note, stainless steel and glass lids are made for microwave safe containers.

  • JATth@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Sure it’s terrifying, but you can start a sparky plasma show in a resilient enough container and keep it going for hours and the microwave won’t break. (except maybe overheat.) The microwave will be fine as long as the arcs don’t reach the waveguide cover. (which would risk burning/shorting the magnetron.)

    I have done the microwave grape plasma trick myself and started an arc in a microwave. The current between the two objects goes through a very narrow point, which is enough vaporize the contact point to plasma. This then can grow as the microwave continues to pump more energy into the spark.

    • Hackworth@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      You can also do this by blowing out a match and putting it under an upturned glass shortly before microwaving it. Turns the carbon vapor into plasma, or some such. Though the time I tried it, it escaped the glass and melted the microwave’s lining. Don’t recommend if it’s an appliance ya care about.