Don't put water in the microwave. #shorts #science #SciShow

Microwaving water can be way more dangerous than you'd think! Here's the science of why this can be an explosive mistake.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

Emma Barratt: Writer
Rachel Garner: Fact Checker
Amy Peterson: Script Editor
Madison Lynn: Videographer
Faith Schmidt: Script Supervisor
Savannah Geary: Editor, Associate Producer
Nate Biehl: Animator
Daniel Comiskey: Editorial Director
Sarah Suta: Producer
Caitlin Hofmeister: Executive Producer
Hank Green: Executive Producer

Sources:

[johnboleyjr.]

PSA: Don't T-Bag superheated water.

I know how the internet works, and I feel like this has to be said

[idrumsometimes]

there’s also supercooled water, which i personally find to be more fun of a reaction because you can pretty much instantly freeze it by shaking it, hitting it, etc

[evilsharkey]

The first time I had water explode in the microwave, it definitely got my attention.

[wertbe]

"Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today."

[ducttapeengineer]

You can also just stick a wooden chopstick or bamboo skewer in the water while it goes through the microwave, which provides plenty of nucleation points.

[radagastwiz]

Water is so hard in my city that I've never had to worry about this.

[RoundHouseDictator]

You can, in fact, superheat rough pressed apple juice in the microwave

[nickkeene]

Things he forgot to mention: it takes about ten minutes of microwaving to make water explode into steam, microwaving your water for 5 minutes for your easy mashed potatoes tonight will boil the water fine and won’t cause you any harm

[Gogoseit]

At first I was like "Whoop-de-doo, you dipped a paper towel in water", but after the explanation, I realized what was happening XD

[Thepippinator]

My dads a doctor and said a kid came into the hospital with his entire face severely burned.
The kid had put a bowl of water in the microwave for several minutes but the water still looked completely normal. Kid went to touch it, then bam it exploded all over him.

[AlexanderPavel]

Mythbusters tested this and could only get superheated water using distilled water. If you're using tap water, there're plenty of nucleation sites and it'll start boiling when it's hot enough.

[lesvegetables]

i always knew microwave water was a tea crime, now i know why

[staredwards]

Never in my life have I imagined boiling water in a microwave.

[Jeffrey_LOL-viwy]

it’s all fun and games until one water molecule decide to go supernova

[johnallegood]

Turntables also help. By vibrating and swirling the water, the surface tension is occasionally broken and the pockets of heated water are mixed more homogenously.
Also, when making a gallon for sweet tea, I personally add a pinch of baking soda, which nucleates any remaining pockets

[SunriseLAW]

A restaurant deep fryer is the best way to heat a plastic bottle of water.

[Starhawke_Gaming]

I learned this the hard was as a teen.
I put some water in to boil and then got distracted and walked away.
When I came back I was disappointed because it looked like the water wasn't boiling yet, so I ran it a little longer.
When I came back again, I opened the door to figure out what was going wrong with my water and the jostle of opening the door was enough to trigger nucleation and the entire measuring cup full of water exploded outward giving me a nasty scald on my arm.

Please be careful with water in the microwave.

[dagnabit]

This happened to me using the stove once. The water was taking forever to boil and then all of a sudden the water exploded out of the pot and hit the ceiling. I had just put my face over the pot to check for boiling only seconds before so I'm very thankful i didn't get my face burned.

[markholm]

I boil water in my microwave. I use a very old glass measuring cup that has lots of minor surface etching. That nucleates well enough that the water boils smoothly every time.

[mozomenku]

From my experience the container is what gets hot most of the times instead of the food