I use a wireless mouse on my Laptop as I do with my Tower...one day while using my Laptop...the mouse was all lover the place going the wrong way...I then realised I had the mouse around the wrong way.
"Can't fix stupid"...
- Thread starter MikeRocor
- Start date
I have experienced a few (?) of those myself, mate! Each time that I taught a robot maintenance class, I told the students that I would try to keep them from repeating my mistakes, by using the phrase "never mind how I figured that out". I used that phrase a lot during the class!
OP
MikeRocor
Well-Known Member
I think I'll have to adopt that phrase for myself - It'll rank right up there with "I made that up."
For instance: Microwave ovens work by the microwave radiation exciting the water molecules in the food. The wavelength of the microwave radiation is the same as the size of the water molecule so it makes the water molecules vibrate which is the definition of heating up the water molecules and hence the entirety of the food since pretty much all food contains at least some water. The energy is transferred from the microwave radiation to the food so, presumably, the microwave radiation is "absorbed". This is all more or less accurate as I understand it.
From this it follows that, if you put an egg in a container of water and nuke it, the water will absorb the microwaves and get hot and cook the egg without the egg exploding (as eggs will normally do when nuked without water). <I made that up.>
In actuality, the egg will still explode and the microwave oven will have egg remnant -and- a decent amount of water all over the inside of it. <Never mind how I figured that out.>
FWIW, the above bit of ingenuity might have ended well except for three separate issues:
- Microwave ovens are, as I understand it, purposely "de-tuned" - the emitted wavelength is just a little off from exactly the size of a water molecule so that the heating effect will penetrate more deeply into the item being cooked. This makes no noticeable difference if you're just boiling a cup of water for some tea, but probably is bad for the above eggsperiment.
- Even lacking the previous point, one might expect the microwave radiation to penetrate a little way into the water so one would need a fairly thick blanket of water around the egg to prevent the egg from being heated internally by the microwave radiation. "Thick blanket of water" translates to "a substantial amount of water" which would extend the cooking time to the point where one might as well just use the stove top.
- Eggs float (when fresh), leaving a bit at the top that's covered by little or no water.
There were no videos taken and no pics so, according to the rules of the internet, "it didn't happen."
"Why would we want to fix stupid? Maybe we need to break it. Consider this — I got my dog fixed, which ironically means broken. She can't have pups anymore. So by that logic... stupid is already fixed. And that explains everything."
You got the hang of that really quickly mate! Was that from experience?
Plus, the EMR heats the fats and sugars, albeit to a lesser extent, as they are less efficient (look up molecular dipole moment). Interestingly, even though they're less efficient, their temperatures rise more quickly and reach higher temperatures than those of the water molecules. It's not just the water molecules. I'm not sure why, but many folks only know about the water molecules being heated. (And, well, a subset of people haven't got any clue how it works at all.)
You can also have some fun with a microwave.
Take a grape and cut it almost in half. Don't cut it completely in half. Put the grape in the microwave with the cut sides facing upwards. (The skin of the grape should be at the bottom, and be sure not to break the two halves apart.) Turn on the microwave and watch.
Get a cup, some water, and a light bulb. Pour enough water into the cup so that the water is higher than the metal part of the light bulb when the bulb is set inside the cup. Put the cup (with the light bulb in it) into the microwave and turn it on.
Find a small candle and some sort of see-through glass that is larger than the candle. Put the candle into the microwave and light it. Take your see-through glass object and flip it upside down to cover the candle while the lit candle is in the microwave. Turn on the microwave.
There are other fun things to do with a microwave.
The above experiments are mostly fine. Just don't leave the microwave on for a long time. If bad things happen, just pop open the microwave's door, which will obviously stop the process. They're not going to damage a modern microwave.
You can even put a metal knife or a spoon into a modern microwave. Some of them will even suggest putting a spoon in when you're reheating coffee. You shouldn't use a fork. The tines are close together and will likely cause it to spark. A spoon or a knife is just fine.
