Cellphones making popcorn pop?

[Apollo20]

There are a whole bunch of videos appearing on the internet showing cellphones popping popcorn by placing three or four cellphones on a table next to cold kernels of corn and making calls to the phones. The popcorn pops within about 10 seconds!

Is this possible, or is it a clever party trick?

Two examples of such videos may be found at:

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=125931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_dyDONsjw

All of this ties into the current spate of reports that cellphones are not really safe and may well cause brain tumors. Personally, I dont have a cellphone and prefer not to,..... but what do other people think?

[T.A.M.]

I think that if the Conspiracy Theory here is that the Cell Phone companies are conspiring somehow wrt to this, please elaborate a little, and then if possible kindly show some evidence (anecdotal evidence will not do).

That is all for now.

I do not have a cell phone either, and hate the things...but it has nothing to do with potential risk from them, just hate others being able to reach me when I am off work.

TAM:)

[technoextreme]

Shouldn't this be moved to the science forum?
PS:
That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. They place them in the worst possible position.
PSS:
As someone astutely pointed out on Youtube if cellphones did that they wouldn't give you cancer. They would kill you.

[Alferd_Packer]

Snopes is your friend (http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp)

[Calcas]

There are a whole bunch of videos appearing on the internet showing cellphones popping popcorn by placing three or four cellphones on a table next to cold kernels of corn and making calls to the phones. The popcorn pops within about 10 seconds!

Is this possible, or is it a clever party trick?

Two examples of such videos may be found at:

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=125931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_dyDONsjw

All of this ties into the current spate of reports that cellphones are not really safe and may well cause brain tumors. Personally, I dont have a cellphone and prefer not to,..... but what do other people think?

You've got to be kidding me.

Why do Twoofers always fall for whatever is on YouTube today?

Snopes has already addressed it. That should always be your first stop for stupid urban legends.

http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp

[Apollo20]

Well, first of all, how is the trick done?

Secondly, I would say while 3 cell phones might not be able to cook an egg it is theoretically possible in the case of popping popcorn. All you need is to supply a heat input of about 2.4 J to vaporize 1 mg of H2O. This is well within the capability of 3 cell phones.

As for brain tumors, the evidence is growing that long term use of cell phones (over 10 years) is a problem. And of course the cell phone industry is huge worldwide and would obviously fight legislation to ban the device based on such research. Consider the example of cigarettes.

[A W Smith]

OK then

What makes the Hottentots so hot?

[Alferd_Packer]

Well, first of all, how is the trick done?

How hot is the table?

[bje]

OK then

What makes the Hottentots so hot?

If they have more than 3 tots?

[Hokulele]

The second link is broken for me, but I notice that in the first video, we have no idea what is under the table.

This is way too easy to fake.

[Apollo20]

Alferd Packer:

If you make popcorn by the conventional technique of heating a pot on a stove, the pot has to get pretty hot to start those kernels popping. So are you suggesting the table top was being heated from underneath in those videos?

[technoextreme]

Alferd Packer:

If you make popcorn by the conventional technique of heating a pot on a stove, the pot has to get pretty hot to start those kernels popping. So are you suggesting the table top was being heated from underneath in those videos?
No we are suggesting they ripped apart a microwave. Probably replicate the same effect with a hot air gun though that would probably make stuff spontaneously erupt in flames. Don't forgot a hot lamp. To say that it isn't easily faked is dumb.

[Redtail]

OK then

What makes the Hottentots so hot?

That thing that puts the "ape" in apricot.

[Apollo20]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?

[technoextreme]

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Nope. The odds of that happening with such abandon is rather slim. Randomly placing the phones on the table makes the odds of placing the cell phones in the correct position so that the phase is correct is rather slim.
Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?
That's not even the right metaphor.

[Horatius]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!



Come on, don't you remember being a student at University? Is it so hard to believe that 4 different groups of science students decided to see how much crap they could get the artsies to believe?




Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?



No, but I had a friend who had a recording of him playing guitar while on acid, in which he starts to play the feedback. Weirdest **** I've ever heard....

[MrQhuest]

Simple test.
Take 4 cell phones and place them in the same pattern.
Put your finger in the center. Does it get hot? warm? cooked?
I have a 1200 watt microwave, and it takes 30 seconds to begin to pop a bag of popcorn.
I'm thinking some digital trickery, like the sunglass catching video's. Where is Captain Disillusion when you need him?

edited:
Another quick experiment.
I just put 5 kernels of popcorn in that 1200 watt microwave. It took 25 seconds to pop all 5 kernels.

MrQhuest

[defaultdotxbe]

consider this, an average tv station broadcasts at several hundred thousand or even millions of times the power of a cellphone, why dont they pop popcorn?

[Crazy Chainsaw]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?

Pre crack the pop corn, soak it in salt water, and it will work with 4 cell phones.

Your not really popping the corn just drying and expanding the salt crystals, it is an old trick. It can be done but why would anyone want pop corn that way?

Weaken the outer coating on the shell and the energy to break the shell and expand the cellulose is decreased.

[ktesibios]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?

The only thing that does is to raise the loop gain to unity or greater, which is necessary to sustain oscillation. If you were to couple the microphones and speakers of two phones together you could probably get a pretty good "howlround" (as our British friends call it) going, but this can't possibly increase the maximum power output of the phones' transmitters. If the transmitter power output isn't enough to heat the corn to popping temperature (which it isn't), the corn ain't gonna pop.

No we are suggesting they ripped apart a microwave. Probably replicate the same effect with a hot air gun though that would probably make stuff spontaneously erupt in flames. Don't forgot a hot lamp. To say that it isn't easily faked is dumb.

I kind of favor the "heat gun" hypothesis. I have one at work which doesn't blow much air but which has burned me when I got careless with it. Perhaps I should buy some popcorn and see if the heat gun can heat it to popping without blowing the kernels around. A reflector spot heat lamp sounds like a pretty workable method as well.

[A W Smith]

But the cell phones in the video are just ringing. They aren't sending out any radio waves are they? they haven't been answered yet. If this were the case you couldn't have a cell tower sending and receiving signals anywhere near a cornfield.

[Crazy Chainsaw]

It is just a simple trick, a light bulb can do it, once the pop corn is set up, I saw a mentalist pop popcorn with his mind-(light bulb), once in a carnival side show.

It is not in the cell phones it is what you do to the corn that counts.
I mean haven't you every heard of Hominy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy

[gdnp]

consider this, an average tv station broadcasts at several hundred thousand or even millions of times the power of a cellphone, why dont they pop popcorn?

The inverse square law comes to mind, if nothing else. 100 yards = 3600 inches = 13 million fold less energy than at 1 inch.

That being said, It has to be a trick. Cell phones in the US allow 1.6 W/kg SAR. A 1200 W microwave takes several minutes to pop corn, with obviously much higher energy output.

[Crazy Chainsaw]

But the cell phones in the video are just ringing. They aren't sending out any radio waves are they? they haven't been answered yet. If this were the case you couldn't have a cell tower sending and receiving signals anywhere near a cornfield.

Ringing is the key the battery produces heat that drys the prepared corn kernels, remember the battery is the energy source.
Ring a cell phone enough and the battery will get pretty hot from usage, remember cell phone batteries can even get hot enough to explode.
It is not the microwave signal that does it.:D

[ihaunter]

One thing to notice is the corn all pops straight up, without disturbing the other kernels. Would suggest video manipulation. Someone off camera tosses in a few popped kernels for the guy to pick up and eat. A lower tech method to accomplish similar results could be super glue and fish line.

[gdnp]

Ringing is the key the battery produces heat that drys the prepared corn kernels, remember the battery is the energy source.
Ring a cell phone enough and the battery will get pretty hot from usage, remember cell phone batteries can even get hot enough to explode.
It is not the microwave signal that does it.:D

except the corn in the video I watched was placed between 4 phones, next to the antennas. Hard to imagine heat from the batteries radiating that far that quickly.

My theory is that they had Uri Geller hiding under the table, beaming psychic energy at the corn, and that is really what made it pop.

[Crazy Chainsaw]

except the corn in the video I watched was placed between 4 phones, next to the antennas. Hard to imagine heat from the batteries radiating that far that quickly.

My theory is that they had Uri Geller hiding under the table, beaming psychic energy at the corn, and that is really what made it pop.

I noticed the video has a red table cloth, possibly to hide a concentrated red light source.

[gumboot]

Secondly, I would say while 3 cell phones might not be able to cook an egg it is theoretically possible in the case of popping popcorn. All you need is to supply a heat input of about 2.4 J to vaporize 1 mg of H2O. This is well within the capability of 3 cell phones.


No it isn't. The ICNIRP limited cellphone output to 450 microwatts/cm2 in 1998 and in many countries are significantly lower than that. Doing the math, that's a power output of 0.00045 J/s per phone, or 0.00135 J/s for all three phones (and that's at contact distance).

Assuming perfect conversion of energy to heat inside the kernel, assuming no heat loss at all, and assuming the kernel is touching all three antennae, it would take your three phones almost half an hour to pop that corn. :eye-poppi

[fullflavormenthol]

But what if you put a cellphone in the middle of a bunch of popcorn?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_KFQqmhGq8

[Hokulele]

But what if you put a cellphone in the middle of a bunch of popcorn?


Win!

[jberryhill]

The simple answer is this.

Remember Mentos and Diet Coke?

Within days of that discovery, there were a zillion YouTube videos of the Mentos and coke reaction.

The total number of unique videos showing this "phenomenon" remains fixed at about four, for a month.

You can bet, if this were true, there would be a zillion videos of it.

That's the "empirical proof" anyway.

[shadron]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?

That is a load of crap analogy. Positive feedback can drive an amp to output howls all day - that won't warm an egg, or pop corn, even though your amplifier power is likely about 100 to 400 times the cell phone power. The microwave is tuned to the frequency that H-O bonds in water vibrate at, and they therefore absorb a large amount of that energy. Cell phones and other non-cooking appliances are not. Without that tuning the water molecules will absorb only a very tiny amount of the energy they encounter, far less than needed to appreciably raise their temperature. As was said before, if the cell phones did that then we would have thousands of unappreciative people with curdled brains.

Cell phones don't operate in microwave frequencies. Therefore they won't resonate there. Resonance is a design feature, not something accidental. And even if they did, they wouldn't output more power then they are capable of sending to the antenna anyway. "Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?" - that is a meaningless sentence to an Electronics Engineer.

Your expectations for your fellow you-tubians are touching but misdirected. Did you ever think of trying it out (ie, the experimental method) rather than watching some idiot's video?

I'll tell you what - place a glass of water on a stool right in front of your speakers (and your friends speakers all gathered around, too - this can be a community event), turn the gains up full full, turn you cell phone on and drop it in the glass, stick your hand in there too and hip-thrust your strato into the speaker. Leave it there for one hour. Don't move in that time. You can type your results to us, as you probably will no longer need a cell phone, even after it dries out.

[shadron]

But what if you put a cellphone in the middle of a bunch of popcorn?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_KFQqmhGq8

Drenched in butter or kettle corn? Inquiring minds want to know.

[monoman]

Well, first of all, how is the trick done?

Secondly, I would say while 3 cell phones might not be able to cook an egg it is theoretically possible in the case of popping popcorn. All you need is to supply a heat input of about 2.4 J to vaporize 1 mg of H2O. This is well within the capability of 3 cell phones.

As for brain tumors, the evidence is growing that long term use of cell phones (over 10 years) is a problem. And of course the cell phone industry is huge worldwide and would obviously fight legislation to ban the device based on such research. Consider the example of cigarettes.

Stay well away from hair dryers Apollo. Actually, no, they're ok cos they don't have chips and stuff in them.

[gdnp]

Stay well away from hair dryers Apollo. Actually, no, they're ok cos they don't have chips and stuff in them.

Good point. Just because cell phones can't cook eggs or pop corn doesn't mean they can't cook chips. ;)

[Ivor the Engineer]

Couple of points:

That is a load of crap analogy. Positive feedback can drive an amp to output howls all day - that won't warm an egg, or pop corn, even though your amplifier power is likely about 100 to 400 times the cell phone power. The microwave is tuned to the frequency that H-O bonds in water vibrate at, and they therefore absorb a large amount of that energy. Cell phones and other non-cooking appliances are not. Without that tuning the water molecules will absorb only a very tiny amount of the energy they encounter, far less than needed to appreciably raise their temperature. As was said before, if the cell phones did that then we would have thousands of unappreciative people with curdled brains.

2.4Ghz is not a special frequency for H-O bonds. IIRC, resonant frequencies for water start above 22GHz. They're also a problem in fiber-optic cable.

Cell phones don't operate in microwave frequencies. Therefore they won't resonate there. Resonance is a design feature, not something accidental. And even if they did, they wouldn't output more power then they are capable of sending to the antenna anyway. "Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?" - that is a meaningless sentence to an Electronics Engineer.

Cell phones work from 800MHz to 1.9Ghz, which are microwave frequencies.

[Evilgiraffe]

The microwave is tuned to the frequency that H-O bonds in water vibrate at...

Slight nitpick.

Microwaves aren't high enough energy to excite vibrational modes in water. There are 3 of these, symmetric stretch, asymmetric stretch and a bend.

The lowest energy of these is the bend, with a ground state vibrational frequency of 47.8 THz, somewhere in the infra-red.

IIRC, microwave ovens operating at ~2.4GHz actually excite rotational energy levels of water and this is manifested into "heat" by collisions with other molecules allowing the excited water molecules to relax back to lower rotational levels. Effectively, rotational energy of the water is transferred into translational energy in surrounding molecules, increasing their temperature.

ETA. Bend frequency should read 47.8THz (47.8 x 1012 Hz) ..... Inability to read calculator properly

[jberryhill]

Thanks Ivor.

No, cell phones don't pop corn, but some of the "reasoning" about why they don't is wrong.

My other favorite in this discussion here and elsewhere is "a microwave oven puts out 1200 watts".

Yes, it does. What a microwave oven does *not* do, of course is deliver 1200 watts to a single popcorn kernel.

What I'm surprised not to see is the equally dumb response, "So if you are microwaving 100 kernels of popcorn, that's only 1.2 watts per kernel."

Confusing the concepts of "resonance" and "constructive interference" is another mis-fire in the discussion here, but equally irrelevant anyway.

[rwguinn]

Thanks Ivor.

No, cell phones don't pop corn, but some of the "reasoning" about why they don't is wrong.

My other favorite in this discussion here and elsewhere is "a microwave oven puts out 1200 watts".

Yes, it does. What a microwave oven does *not* do, of course is deliver 1200 watts to a single popcorn kernel.

What I'm surprised not to see is the equally dumb response, "So if you are microwaving 100 kernels of popcorn, that's only 1.2 watts per kernel."

Confusing the concepts of "resonance" and "constructive interference" is another mis-fire in the discussion here, but equally irrelevant anyway.

Delivering 1200 wats to a single kernel won't necessarily pop it, either.
Put the damn thing out in the bright sunshine on a summer day.
Betcha it won't pop, and it will be exposed to considerably more than 1200W

[GreyICE]

I did see someone ignite gasoline with a cell phone once. It involved a bunch of aluminum foil, which would reflect and amplify the wave quite oddly, and probably to several hundred times its typical intensity. As he said, it was the only theoretical way he could come up with to ignite gasoline with a cell phone, and it took him a few dozen tries from various angles to pull it off.

Popping popcorn is a lot more heat than igniting gasoline.

[Ocelot]

Delivering 1200 wats to a single kernel won't necessarily pop it, either.
Put the damn thing out in the bright sunshine on a summer day.
Betcha it won't pop, and it will be exposed to considerably more than 1200W

If your kernal has a cross section of about a square metre and you're in the tropics at noon. Then maybe

The power received from the sun at the earth's orbit is 1.366 kW per square metres. This then gets filtered by the atmosphere.

[gdnp]

Thanks Ivor.

No, cell phones don't pop corn, but some of the "reasoning" about why they don't is wrong.

My other favorite in this discussion here and elsewhere is "a microwave oven puts out 1200 watts".

Yes, it does. What a microwave oven does *not* do, of course is deliver 1200 watts to a single popcorn kernel.

On the other hand, the cell phone does not deliver its full power to the kernal of corn either, so I felt the analogy apt. For the cell phone to be able to pop corn it would have to transfer its much smaller energy output to the water in the kernals of corn much more efficiently than a microwave oven, an appliance designed precisely for the purpose of heating water.

If cell phones could pop corn in this manner manufacturers would be making corn poppers powered by cell phone antennae.

[ponderingturtle]

Th

Cell phones don't operate in microwave frequencies. Therefore they won't resonate there. Resonance is a design feature, not something accidental.

Tell that to Percy Spencer's chocolate bar.

[Alferd_Packer]

But the cell phones in the video are just ringing. They aren't sending out any radio waves are they? they haven't been answered yet. If this were the case you couldn't have a cell tower sending and receiving signals anywhere near a cornfield.

I do believe that once they start ringing there is a two way connection with the local cell.

[Diogenes]

Nope ..
That would tie up a lot of cell resources needlessly..

Cell system signals phone there is an incoming call .

Cell phone starts ringing ..

If cell phone doesn't pick up - there is no need to establish two way traffic with the target phone and tie up a cell channel ..

[GreyICE]

Nope ..
That would tie up a lot of cell resources needlessly..

Cell system signals phone there is an incoming call .

Cell phone starts ringing ..

If cell phone doesn't pick up - there is no need to establish two way traffic with the target phone and tie up a cell channel ..

Hmm? Nice theory, but cell phones do communicate two ways with the tower. Ever had one drop you directly to voicemail because the phone was busy/off?

If there's not backchatter, how does it know the phone is off?

Yeah. There's backchatter. Actually cell phones communicate with the towers reasonably frequently. They'd be a great way to track people, if... oh wait, they are.

[Diogenes]

If there's not backchatter, how does it know the phone is off?

Because the phone does not signal back ?


Sure there, is signaling between the two - but I do not believe it is continuous during the ringing cycle .. It would be a waste of bandwidth ..

I could be wrong ...

It would be pretty easy to test with an R.F. meter ...

[Rocko]

If there's not backchatter, how does it know the phone is off?

I'd always assumed that's what that low "dut-dut-de-dut-dut-dut" noise is you can hear if you've got the phone near speakers; a handshake to confirm "yup, I'm on". They must have some sort of low level comms with the mast after that point presumably, for when you either answer or decline the call.

They'd be a great way to track people, if... oh wait, they are.

I don't think many people realise they're carrying round a tracking device with them all the time. I worked on a case where the evidence from which cell mobiles had been in at specific times was probably the single biggest factor in convicting a load of people.

[technoextreme]

Confusing the concepts of "resonance" and "constructive interference" is another mis-fire in the discussion here, but equally irrelevant anyway.
That wasn't a misfire that was me pointing out how stupid the theories are regardless of whether or not they had any relevance to this discussion.My other favorite in this discussion here and elsewhere is "a microwave oven puts out 1200 watts".
That's wrong. Wikipedia says that ovens consume 12000 watts of power not puts out 1200 watts of power. I'm surprised at how much power it consumes.

[blutoski]

One thing to notice is the corn all pops straight up, without disturbing the other kernels. Would suggest video manipulation. Someone off camera tosses in a few popped kernels for the guy to pick up and eat. A lower tech method to accomplish similar results could be super glue and fish line.

This was my first thought exactly: sewing thread, a dab of krazyglue, and some already popped kernels. Yank the un-popped kernels out of view, and drop the popped ones back down.

[Diogenes]

......
That's wrong. Wikipedia says that ovens consume 12000 watts of power not puts out 1200 watts of power. I'm surprised at how much power it consumes.

If it's consuming 12,000 watts of power, the microwaves seem irrelevant ..




Seriously, microwave ovens come in varying power levels; typically from 500 to 2,000 watts. The actual microwave energy they put out might be 65% of that ..

[Ladewig]

If they were using the string approach they could have at least used a glass table top.

Not seeing what's under the table is definitely a deal breaker for me. The video at the end of the Snopes article actually has a table skirt hiding whatever is under the table.

[ihaunter]

The "deal breaker" is that when you have several kernels placed so close together, when one pops, the others are going to be scattered by the rapid expansion. This doesn't happen, thus the corn is not actually popping. No heat source is used in the performance of this trick (other than pre-popping some kernels to be thrown in at the appropriate time) and the use of a black table is for ease of video manipulation, not to hide anything under it.

[GreyICE]

Because the phone does not signal back ?

Sure there, is signaling between the two - but I do not believe it is continuous during the ringing cycle .. It would be a waste of bandwidth .. Define continuous. For most definitions that are being applied to a digital signal, it doesn't work.

I could be wrong ...

It would be pretty easy to test with an R.F. meter ...Well it communicates so frequently that it fits the legal definition of a tracking device. How good is that?

[Skeptic Guy]

I have seen at least four different videos of this "trick". I guess all these folks are into trashing microwave ovens!

Ever consider that the effect could be caused by a standing (resonant) wave being established between the cell phones from microwave energy reflection/feedback?

Ever held an electric guitar up close to a fully-cranked amp?

Yeah, but you would need to have an amp that was able to be set to "11". "10" won't do it. You've never seen Spinal Tap?

[gdnp]

That's wrong. Wikipedia says that ovens consume 12000 watts of power not puts out 1200 watts of power. I'm surprised at how much power it consumes.

If wikipedia says this it needs to be corrected.

power = voltage x current

current = power / voltage

if power=12000 watts
and voltage=120 volts

current = 100 amps.

If your microwave is putting out 12000 watts you either have better circuit breakers than me, or you need to apply for the million dollar challenge because you are creating energy.

[elgarak]

If wikipedia says this it needs to be corrected.

power = voltage x current

current = power / voltage

if power=12000 watts
and voltage=120 volts

current = 100 amps.

If your microwave is putting out 12000 watts you either have better circuit breakers than me, or you need to apply for the million dollar challenge because you are creating energy.
Correct.

NB: Microwave ovens are classified by the microwave power they put out, not the power they consume from the grid. A 1200W microwave oven puts out 1200W of food-nuking power, and typically grabs ~1800W out of the wall (which is about the most you can get out of a standard 15A outlet in 110V USA). It seems to me that input/output power gets confused in this discussion a bit.

[ktesibios]

That wasn't a misfire that was me pointing out how stupid the theories are regardless of whether or not they had any relevance to this discussion.
That's wrong. Wikipedia says that ovens consume 12000 watts of power not puts out 1200 watts of power. I'm surprised at how much power it consumes.

That's funny, Wha I found in the Wiki article on microwave ovens was :

microwave oven only converts part of its electrical input into microwave energy. A typical consumer microwave oven consumes 1100 W of electricity in producing 700 W of microwave power, an efficiency of 64%.[citation needed] The other 400 W are dissipated as heat, mostly in the magnetron tube. Additional power is used to operate the lamps, AC power transformer, magnetron cooling fan, food turntable motor and the control circuits.

Typical secondary ratings for the power tranformers used in microwave ovens are in the 2 kV @ 0.5A range, which is 1 kVA.

If wikipedia says this it needs to be corrected.

power = voltage x current

current = power / voltage

if power=12000 watts
and voltage=120 volts

current = 100 amps.

If your microwave is putting out 12000 watts you either have better circuit breakers than me, or you need to apply for the million dollar challenge because you are creating energy.

Not to mention that since the transformer- voltage doubler power supplies commonly used to run microwave oven magnetrons won't have a unity power factor, the current taken from the wall socket would be higher, as you're drawing some VARs as well as watts.

Oven power ratings appear to be based on the DC power input to the magnetron (not counting the power consumed in heating the cathode to electron-emitting temperature). A magnetron which runs with 4 kV anode-to-cathode at 300 mADC (which seem to be typical values based on what technical information I can Google up) would be rated at 1200W. The actual RF power output would depend on the efficiency of the tube.

Radio transmitters are also commonly rated in the same way, by the DC power input to the final amplifier, found by multiplying the plate supply voltage by the DC plate current, and not the RF power output. This makes life simpler for transmitter operators and regulatory agencies, as accurately measuring DC voltages and currents is much easier than measuring voltage and current at radio frequencies.

[shadron]

Delivering 1200 wats to a single kernel won't necessarily pop it, either.
Put the damn thing out in the bright sunshine on a summer day.
Betcha it won't pop, and it will be exposed to considerably more than 1200W

??

Solar mean density on the Earth's surface is 170 watts/meter^2. Giving a corn kernel the generous area of, say, .25 cm^2, that is about 170/40,000 watts, or 4.25 milliwatts average. Perhaps you meant to make a statement about the total amount of energy delivered in a day, but that's still only 50 milliwatt-hours, even assuming average insolation over 12 hours.

In any case, the trick to popping corn is to deliver enough energy in a short enough time to boil the internal water and cause the steam pressure to rise internally faster than it leaks out of the kernel.

[shadron]

Sure there, is signaling between the two - but I do not believe it is continuous during the ringing cycle .. It would be a waste of bandwidth ..

It would be pretty easy to test with an R.F. meter ...

Easier than that - if you have a sound card running at an average volume, bring your phone close to the computer while it is in use. You can hear the packets going out (the ones coming back are way too low in energy to be heard). Remember this is digital data, not analog. There is a continuous channel (which is a software, not a hardware concept), but it is not always sending data as an analog channel would be; data packets are sent when there is enough data to fill them out, which normally happens in the millisecond timing range.

I normally sit at my computer with the phone on the chair arm. I can hear it occasionally phone home to the cell to say "I'm still here." (that might be in answer to a query from the cell, but I do know that at least some conversations have to be started from the phone, otherwise the cell wouldn't know when the phone enters or leaves), and I can hear incoming calls about a second before the phone starts ringing as it acknowledges the call from the cell and opens the data channel.

[Diogenes]

Good idea .. I'll check it out ..

My only observation was that the RF carrier from the phone to the cell need not be on continuously while the phone is ringing .. There is no need for the phone to transmit to the cell at all once ringing has been initiated, until the phone picks up, or the ringing cycle times out ...


Many people mistakenly believe the ringing signal they hear in the calling phone, is the same one making the phone ring on the other end ..

[Horatius]

And That, was that. (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/94863)



Hey, have you seen the video that shows how if you point a few cell phones at popcorn kernels and dial them all at once they'll pop? Sorry, folks, but it just isn't true. Turns out it's all a viral marketing stunt (and a hugely successful one, at that) from Bluetooth headset maker Cardo.

[gdnp]

And That, was that. (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/94863)


Quote:
Hey, have you seen the video that shows how if you point a few cell phones at popcorn kernels and dial them all at once they'll pop? Sorry, folks, but it just isn't true. Turns out it's all a viral marketing stunt (and a hugely successful one, at that) from Bluetooth headset maker Cardo.

Oh, so you've fallen for this blatant cover-up by the cell phone industry? How can there be a viral marketing plan when Jerome Da Gnome has already demonstrated that there is no such thing as a virus? Jerome's HIV thread (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=115597)

The evidence clearly shows that the cell phone companies are spreading the lie that this video is a hoax. They want to cover up the TRUTH: that flight 93 was brought down by popcorn in people's luggage exploding when the people on board used their cell phones!

Why are you people so blind to the TRUTH?

;)

[Horatius]

Why are you people so blind to the TRUTH?

;)



It mostly comes from poking out our eyes with sticks after reading someone's diatribe.


;)

[Matty1973]

Looks like it is a viral campaign by Cardo Bluetooth headphones.
http://www.cardosystems.com/pop/

They have had 4 million views in 2 weeks!

[Dan O.]

This is really why movie theaters insist that cell phones are turned off. If everybody could make their own popcorn, concession sales would plummet.

I am surprised that cell phone manufacturers haven't exploit this property...

toROK6C5U-Q

[gdnp]

This is really why movie theaters insist that cell phones are turned off. If everybody could make their own popcorn, concession sales would plummet.

I am surprised that cell phone manufacturers haven't exploit this property...

toROK6C5U-Q

mmmmm....popcorn.....

:popcorn6

[LTC8K6]

My first thought was that it was a good job with a nice video editing package.

I never thought the popcorn actually popped.

[alfaniner]

It is on the front page of CNN now. I only saw a few seconds of the video, and the hosts seemed to be treating it as a joke. But still...

[Olowkow]

Here you go:

Bluetooth headset retailer Cardo Systems has claimed ownership of the hot viral videos that show people appearing to pop popcorn with their cellphones.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/bluetooth-compa.htmlThe blue tooth company wanted to make a point that their devices were safer. Blog.wired.com says they will post the secret when they find out.

[TjW]

Last time I checked, Bluetooth was RF, too.

[Olowkow]

Last time I checked, Bluetooth was RF, too.
Well yes of course, but extremely low power RF.

[Dan O.]

Here is a hint that it is not the cell phones at all but something to do with the physical alignment...

puEPl8wPXNE

[gdnp]

Here is a hint that it is not the cell phones at all but something to do with the physical alignment...

puEPl8wPXNE

I should have guessed! They hid bananas in the cell phones!

....or....cell phones in the bananas?

[get smart mode] The old banana in the cell phone trick, 99...third time I've fallen for that one this week! [/get smart mode]

[Olowkow]

I'm bumping this with the YouTube version of the bluetooth ad to be sure everyone knows that the popcorn myth has been officially debunked.

NCiS4gG-sE8

I'm still worried about bananas though. :)