[Sca-cooks] Boiling Water in Microwave...any hear of this??

[Sue Clemenger]

I haven't heard of the specific incidents, but I *have* had it happen to me,
when heating tea water in a mug.  I knew the water was close to boiling (I
like my tea *hot*), but it was "still" when I took the mug from the micro.
When I dropped the teabag in, it boiled up all over the countertop.  Pretty
impressive....I figured I was just at/under some sort of physical threshold
when I took the mug out.  Cool to know what actually causes it!
--Maire, science geek in her day, even if mostly hidden by fiberiness now
;o)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcus Loidolt" <mjloidolt at yahoo.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>; <sternfeld at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 8:12 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Boiling Water in Microwave...any hear of this??



>   Subject: Boiling water
>
>
>     Microwaving Water!
>
> A 26-year old man decided to have a cup of coffee. He took a cup of water
and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done
numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer for, but he
wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer shut the oven off, he
removed the cup from the oven. As he looked into the cup, he noted that the!
water was not boiling, but suddenly the water in the cup "blew up" into his
face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand, but all the
water had flown out into his face due to the build up of energy. His whole
face is blistered and he has 1st and 2nd degree burns to his face which may
leave scarring.
>
> He also may have lost partial sight in his left eye. While at the
hospital, the doctor who was attending to him stated that this is a fairly
common occurrence and water (alone) should never be heated in a microwave
oven. If water is heated in this manner, something should be placed in the
cup to diffuse the energy such as a wooden stir stick, tea bag, etc.,
(nothing metal).
>
> It is however a much safer choice to boil the water in a tea kettle.
>
> General Electric's Response:
>
> Thanks for contacting us, I will be happy to assist you. The e-mail that
you received is correct. Microwaved water and other liquids do not always
bubble when they reach the boiling point. They can actually get superheated
and not bubble at all. The superheated liquid will bubble up out of the cup
when it is moved or when something like a spoon or tea bag is put into it.