Physicists explain fireballs erupting from grapes in microwave oven

Phys.org ^ | 19 Feb 2018 | Bob Yirka

[DUMBGRUNT]

A trio of researchers with McMaster, Concordia and Trent Universities has solved the mystery of why pairs of grapes ignite into fireballs when cooked together in a microwave oven

...The tests consisted mostly of using thermal imaging cameras to capture the action as the grapes were heated and running simulations. They also tested other similarly sized fruit and plastic balls filled with water.

[DUMBGRUNT]

I'm thinking most everyone has played with this and light bulbs and old Nixie tubes...in the microwave.

Yes, there might be someone that is so deep into the anti-TRUMP crap they lacked the time?

Guys gotta have some fun.

[tomkat]

Microwave grape races .. outstanding !

[Redcitizen]

“Let them have a whiff of the grape”

[Aevery_Freeman]

I’ve got an old-fashioned lime-light but not a grape-light.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

UFOOOOO’s.........

[NorthMountain]

Goodness, gracious, grape balls of fire!

Perfect experiment for bored grad students ...

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Add a little powdered Uranium and some lead cladding and you have your own little Fusion Reactor!
(Not certain if E IN would be >E OUT and whether the Atomic Energy Agency would provide the necessary research permitting for a commercial in-home microwave fusion reactor!)

[DUMBGRUNT]

a whiff of the grape

Same thing, only different.

PS: It was not Napoleon, who said that!

[Ken H]

What about bananas?

[DUMBGRUNT]

old-fashioned lime-light

No concerns about having that quicklime around the
house?

Eats flesh and bone away
It eats the brittle bone by night
And the soft flesh by day
It eats the flesh and bones by turns
But it eats the heart away
-Oscar Wilde,

[DUMBGRUNT]

Perfect experiment for bored grad students ...

A fun experiment for most anyone.

[unlearner]

The reason is this makes grapes angry. Grapes of wrath.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Fusion Reactor!

OH MY!

And what of the containment?

[DUMBGRUNT]

Guessing, that if you formed as a split grape with a 3mm gap it might just work.

Grapes are much simpler, give it a try.
No grapes, no glory.

[M Kehoe]

Microwave an egg.

5.56mm

[NorthMountain]

Fun for anyone ... but bored physics grad students have the lab equipment (and mental horsepower) to do it up royally.

[DUMBGRUNT]

TOM!
TOM JOAD, is that you?

[Larry Lucido]

[DUMBGRUNT]

Microwave an egg.

No problem and not much fun if removed from the shell first.

[DUMBGRUNT]

impressive videos of grapes igniting in microwaves went viral on YouTube. All a person had to do was cut a grape in half, leaving the two halves connected by a bit of skin at the bottom, and heat them in a microwave oven—within seconds, a tiny fireball would appear between them.

Knife, grape and a microwave. NO GRAPE, NO GLORY.