AOL users and Urban Legends

[exarch]

Mythbusters did this one as well. It can happen but not often enough to warrant never boiling water in a microwave.

Indeed. It can happen, but the conditions needed to create superheated water are very narrow (in other words, very pure water, a very clean glass, etc...).
Of course, you could simply use a water heater instead of the microwave, or not do anything stupid like throwing a spoon or something into the glass right after you've opened the microwave door.

 

[vIQleS]

If you want to make sure the water superheats you need to boil it twice in the same container:

http://amasci.com/weird/microwave/voltage2.html

Even more dangerous is to boil water TWICE in a microwave oven. Most containers have tiny scratches in their surfaces, and these crevices contain air. When you heat water, these tiny air pockets will provide a constant stream of "seed bubbles" which allow normal boiling to occur. However, the air in these tiny bubbles within the cracks quickly gets replaced by steam. The crevices still produce seed-bubbles, but if you turn off the oven and let the water cool, the steam in the cracks will collapse and vanish, and the crevices fill with water. The seed bubbles are gone. If you now turn the oven on again, the water will superheat.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Wow. Just wow.

That's a horrible story. The angels couldn't even stop the rape, they just passed it on to the next person?

That person wasn't a Christian, so it's OK.

 

[Strife]

I was really happy the day someone showed me Snopes. I began replying with Snopes links to everyone who sent me urban legends. They stopped. But instead they began to forward "funny" stories, pictures and power-point presentations. Now I have no ideas how to tell them I don't want their horrible forwards without insulting them..

 

[Marc L]

Check the glurge section of Snopes, and see if it's there. If it is, send them the link. Sooner or later, they'll realize you're just a killjoy, and stop sending you stuff.

Marc

 

[Mrs L]

I heard there was this wierd urban legend, all about this toddler who actually... lay down and took a nap without screaming and complaining...

I'm not sure if I believe this one or not. At any rate, the Borgmonkey is trying to convince me it's a myth. But then she fell asleep. And the evil person that I am, I accidentally woke her up.