Fun with Food
One of my co-workers just sent me this link. I have to say that I wasn't impressed with the research. Most people are aware that stuff burns. My favorite quote from the article: "At this point, the researchers also realized that the heat could inadvertently melt the adhesive cellophane and cause the flaming SPTs to suddenly eject from the toaster. Unfortunately, this did not occur." What's an SPT? Guess you'll just have to trust me and click on the link.
Seriously, the grape experiment is much more impressive. Having tried it myself, I can say that the orientation of the grape relative to the ground is VERY important. Cut side down will result in the halves of the grape seperating as the sparks burn through the skin, as they show. Cut side up allows the sparks to continute to rise, creating a much better show. Just a word of warning, you might want to try this in someone else's microwave, and don't use full power. Grape plasma is surprisingly hot; I suspect that setting the microwave too high will cause the plasma cloud to rise too far, resulting in contact between the plasma and the top of the microwave and generally causing a lot of burning.
Seriously, the grape experiment is much more impressive. Having tried it myself, I can say that the orientation of the grape relative to the ground is VERY important. Cut side down will result in the halves of the grape seperating as the sparks burn through the skin, as they show. Cut side up allows the sparks to continute to rise, creating a much better show. Just a word of warning, you might want to try this in someone else's microwave, and don't use full power. Grape plasma is surprisingly hot; I suspect that setting the microwave too high will cause the plasma cloud to rise too far, resulting in contact between the plasma and the top of the microwave and generally causing a lot of burning.