we liiiike! Maybe the suggestion should read, in "someone else's" microwave!

From what I understand you can microwave a neon bulb at a low wattage and get it to shine.. Guess this is the same just more.. um.. arbitrary and destructive.

I question if they are really making a plasma here... (at least at first.) I think the microwaves may just be causing the phosphor in the bulb to fluoresce.

There are techniques to make plasma in a microwave, that require a carbon source (just put out candle works well). When the bulb blows at the end, I wonder if the filament in the bulb works like that...

Fluorescent bulbs (and neon, probably) will light up near any strong electric field from the induced current, but that's not "plasma" either.

Meh... nothing will top microwaving a CD and getting the spider-web pattern of sparks. ^_-

no question its a plasma. there are no phosphors in incandescent light bulbs, just silica powder for light diffusion. Its the low pressure argon fill in the bulb that is glowing, try it with a clear bulb for a second or two you'll definitely see it is a gas discharge phenomenon. also fluorescent bulbs and neon tubes no matter what the excitation source will always have a plasma inside if they are giving off light. the definition of a plasma is only a gas where some number of the atoms have had their electrons ripped off thus making the whole gas conductive. a candle flame is a very low level plasma (you can even stick electrodes in it and pass an oscillating current through it to make sound!)

ahh, makes sense... though I'm sure I've seen some (normal incandescent) lights that have phosphor in it. It was probably one of those "natural sunlight" color-corrected bulbs, where they use the phosphor to mix with the primary light to get a second color spectrum out of the bulb. Or something like that.

I forgot about the "plasma==conductive" thing... which explains why you get a continuous spark after you exceed the breakdown voltage. (see: a jacob's ladder)

I need to go find a microwave I don't care about and put stuff in it...