*promote

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 5:41am PDT - promote requested by pumkinandstorm.

My mom literally cried when my parents got their first microwave oven as newly weds.

>> ^Morganth:

My mom literally cried when my parents got their first microwave oven as newly weds.
Did your dad tried to cook your mom?

You can actually see a microwave waves in 3D by cooking a whole block of cheese or certain types of styrofoam.

**Safety Note**

If you take apart a microwave oven be very, very careful of the capacitor (looks like a metal can near the magnetron). These caps store an impressive amount of charge and can knock you across the room--even after the oven is unplugged.

**Fun Note**

If you put a lightbulb in a glass of water such that the metal screw bit is underwater (it will mostly float above the water) and put it in a microwave, the light will come on.

When a microwave oven breaks it's typically one of 3 things, all of which are quite cheap to repair:
1: magnetron fuse has blown. These fuses range from 500mA up to 1700mA depending on the type of microwaves I've encountered. Typically overpriced, these fuses often sell for upwards of 15 quid despite costing as little as 50 pence from distributors.
2: wave guide cover has been burned through due to arcing of the microwaves. These wave guide covers (or shields) can be replaced by cutting a piece of sheet mica to size using the old wave guide cover as a template. Manufacturers' own replacement covers can often cost around 20 quid.
3: Door sensor is broken, probably from shutting the door too harshly, repeatedly. Considering these things are typically no more complex than a switch that is pressed when the door is closed, manufacturers love to go out of their way to make them look as complex as possible, and therefore drive up prices of spares that are just glorified on/off switches. Usually I recommend buying the manufacturer's own part as a replacement, but on occasion I've helped friends by doing a low-cost repair using a cheap switch from Maplin.

If you took the time to read this I hope you found it useful; if I bored you I'm sorry but I don't know how to give you those 60 seconds of your life back

I wish I could visit this guy's basement.

**Safety Note**

A little more basic, but don't boil water with a microwave in a smooth glass container without something (a stick in this video) to disrupt the surface. It could superheat the water.

Microwave + Smooth Glass + Undisturbed Water = Steam Bomb

>> ^mizila:

Safety Note
A little more basic, but don't boil water with a microwave in a smooth glass container without something (a stick in this video) to disrupt the surface. It could superheat the water.
Microwave + Smooth Glass + Undisturbed Water = Steam Bomb


While super heating water in a microwave is possible, you need a very smooth container, water free of impurities and it must be perfectly still while heating as the slightest disturbance can cause flash boiling. Mass produced glass and plastic measuring cups and other containers will always have small defects and if you have a turn table in your microwave and you're using tap water, you'll be fine as the imperfections in the container combined with impurities in tap water and the motion of the turn table will be enough to prevent super heating.

Also, what the guy says around 1:35 isn't true. A microwave doesn't heat the whole mass of the food because the microwaves can't penetrate the entire mass of the food. If what he said were true, you could stick a whole turkey in it and cook it in minutes, but in reality you'll end up with a hot outside and a cold inside.