Aluminium foil in microwave oven

[JPK]

I can only disagree - because I don't see sparks or arcs.

The point of my post.

You are once again correct because I meant to say not see arcs.
Thanks.

 

[CaveDave]

To me, RF is from about 10 MHz up to 30 GHz or above. Anything an antenna can operate on with a transmission line. (Well, ELF goes WAY down towards power line frequencies). Anything the FCC allocates and licenses, basically.

The foil sparked because it was too thin to take the current, thick metal in continuous sheets, that don't form loops with ends close to each other generally won't.

Unbroken incandescent or fluorescent lamps, new or burned out, if small enough to fit in the cavity, make impressive displays. (Limit time so the glass doesn't melt - the plasma is HOT)

Short candle stubs with short wicks, toothpicks or matchsticks stuck in a slice of cork, etc. lit and put in a running oven will "launch" ball lightening plasmoids that will fly around the cavity buzzing loudly as they crawl the sides of the oven.

WARNING: Observe safety rules, use an "expendable" oven, and don't let Significant Other / Mom / Boss catch you !! YMMV

Cheers,

Dave

 

[wackyvorlon]

There are many electronics companies who certainly consider 2.4GHz to be RF. Texas Instruments is one of them:

http://focus.ti.com/paramsearch/doc...log&familyId=936&uiTemplateId=NODE_STRY_PGE_T

 

[KingMerv00]

Not that I'd encourage this or anything, but immersing the base of an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb in a cup of water in a microwave will cause the bulb to light.

Of course, you have to turn the microwave on, silly.

I did that long ago but it worked just fine without the water.



When I did it, I only left it in there for like 5 seconds so mine didn't explode.

 

[Ambrosia]

You can use aluminium foil in microwaves without sparking to some extent.

I've used foil wrapped around the exposed bone of say a chicken drumstick, as long as it's wrapped tightly no sparking is observed.

I also routinely heated foods in "black iron" frypans in large commercial 1800W microwaves with no ill effects.

As I understand it manufacturers recommend using no metal ever as a small amount of foil could potentially start a fire - and noone wants to be sued.