Health & Safety

My daughter works in Health & Safety and just received this email from her:

Water in the Microwave ... Read first then watch the video

A 26-year old 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 told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer went off, he removed the cup from the oven. As he looked into the cup, he noted that the water was not boiling, but in a couple of seconds, instantly 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 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. 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.

To prevent this from happening and causing injury, do not heat any liquid
for more than two minutes per cup. After heating, let the cup stand in
the microwave for thirty seconds before moving it or adding anything into it.
If you pass this on ... you could very well save someone from a lot of
pain and suffering.

Now check the attachment (an experiment to show you the buildup of
Energy in the cup of microwaved water)

For the video attachment:
http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/LEGCHAIR4/?action=view&current=superhea.flv

 

Wow, that's scary. The poor thing. Think I'll stick to a pan to do the kids hot milk from now on.

 

My Samsung microwave an an automatic timer button for drinks. It is 1 1/2 minutes but I only ever put a cup in for one minute as that is hot enough.

 

Thanks for that Dag. I am guilty of doing this when I am at work, I won't be doing it again after watching the video..must have just been lucky up to now :eek:

 

'eck. Thanks for that. Something I won't be dong any more!

 

Point Taken............

 

As I have said several times - the things you can learn on GC!

And a very valuable piece of information - won't do it again



.

 

Perhaps I should add my own unfortunate experience with a microwave which had nothing to do with heating just liquid.

Whilst heating a packet meal at work, followed instructions and stirred halfway thro', returned and finished heating time. Failed to wait sufficient standing time as someone else wanted to use microwave, and tried to remove it. Halfway out of the oven it erupted just a small splat which landed on my bare forearm. The shock made me drop it on the floor.

Instinctively I tried to remove the burning food from my arm, and it took my skin with it!

I am not against microwaves, I use them a lot. It could be that they are safer overall.

Just feel that we should all be aware of the dangers as with any form of heating. Liquids or solids, if you wait the recommended standing time there shouldn't be a problem.

Happy microwaving!