The Microwaving Water Safety Alert Email Warning

Last significant update: 15 March 2001

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Thanks to BJ for first bringing this to our attention on 14 January, 2000.

First of all, let me state that while I feel that sending such an email certainly constitutes junk mail, though others may reasonably disagree. I'd say that if one feels an overwhelming need to disseminate such information, it could be done a la the suggestions we make in our write-up on The Hunger Site -- but (in general) it is inexcusable to distribute ANYTHING unless it has been substantiated.

Since I am now sufficiently convinced that this particular casehas been substantiated, I leave it to you to decide whether or not is is worthy of forwarding along to everyone. I'll note for the record that this was on Prime Time on 15 March, 2001.

Here is the text:

Subject: Re: Fw: Safety Alert - Microwaving Water



Subject:        Microwaving Water to Heat it Up

      
I feel that the following is information that any one who uses a
microwave oven to heat water should be made aware of.  About five days
ago my 26-year old son decided to have a cup of instant coffee.  He took
a cup of water and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that
he had done numerous times before).  I am not sure how long he set the
timer for

N.B.: If you have a microwave, check the owners manual. You'll find text similar to the following:

• Spontaneous boiling -- Under certain circumstances, liquids may start to boil during or shortly after removal from the microwave oven. To prevent burns from splashing liquid, stir the liquid briefly before removing the container from the microwave oven. (This from my microwave owners manual, dated November 1987; nowadays they recommend stirring beforehand).

• Do not heat water for more than two minutes (more recent style warning)

but he told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer
shut the oven off, he removed the cup from the oven.  As he looked into
the cup he noted that the water was not boiling but instantly the water
in the cup "blew up" into his face. The cup remained intact until he
threw it out of his hand but all the water had flew out into his face 
due to the buildup of energy. His whole face is blistered and he has 1st
and 2nd degree burns to his face which may leave scarring.  He also may 
have lost partial sight in his left eye.

While at the hospital, the doctor who was attending to him stated that 
this a fairly common occurrence and water (alone) should never be heated
in a microwave oven.  If water is heated in this manner, something
should be placed in the cup to diffuse the energy such as a wooden stir
stick, tea bag, etc. It is however a much safer choice to boil the water
in a tea kettle.

Whether or not this particular report is true matters not: this is a real danger.

Please pass this information on to friends and family.

Hmmm. Certainly don't pass it along to everyone you know; it would be better, if you must do that, to say instead "Read your owners manuals carefully! If you don't, you risk serious injury!" But if you feel you must send it along, do be careful only to send it to those who use microwaves.

For more info on this, plus movies of the phenomenon of superheated water, see e.g., Professor Bloomfield's How Things Work page (leaving our site) at the University of Virginia.

Please do not forward this -- or any other warning or hoax -- to all your friends -- at least not indiscriminately.

Instead, you should reply to the sender, pointing to fact, rather than rumor. For this particular case, I suggest that you provide a pointer to this URL (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/hoaxes/microwave.html)
For virus or hoax info, please see our main page (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/) or go to another reputable site, like The Urban Legends Reference Pages (leaving our site).

   -BPB

visits to this page since 15 March 2001 22:20 EST