Blowing up a microwave by cooking a sealed bottle of liquid

Tesla 500 likes to blow up old microwaves so that he can harvest their transformers, gang them up and turn them into buzzing, instantaneously lethal apparati that burst into flames.

He has put a lot of thought into the optimal way to blow up a microwave, and has settled on blowing it up by putting a bottle of sealed liquid in the microwave and turning it on (and leaving the room). In this video -- the latest in a series -- he experiments with a Kahlua bottle that he's sealed with silicone, and manages to produce an explosion that shocks even him.

Here on Reddit, he describes the delicious sense of suspense he experiences while waiting for the microwave to blow: "The sound when these things explode is hard to describe, it's a very loud low frequency WHUMP, very unlike a gunshot or chemical explosion. I've only ever heard it from the next room, so I can't imagine how loud it is in the room! The wait is the killer, you have no idea when it's going to happen, just that it takes approximately 20 minutes. As Adam Savage said, that kind of stress cannot be good for you!"

Needless to say, you shouldn't try this at home, or anywhere else.

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

You know, they should really ban microwave ovens as carry-on baggage now.
caipirina

Still more fun doing that with Gremlins!
Anonymous

I just cancelled his lease!
Anonymous

Beware Beryllium:
when messing with microwave components be aware that any PINK ceramic nub on the magnetron tube contains beryllium and if shattered and inhaled even a small particle can cause berylliosis for the gruesome details of this see wikipedia.

so be carefull with them.
Bill Beaty

Is good he didn’t use kerosene. Is good.

Otherwise he would have a BLEVE

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

http://www.google.com/images?q=bleve
wigg1es

Explosions are always better with the appropriate epic metal accompaniment.
Anonymous

And I have arguments with my children’s school principal over ALCOHOL HAND CLEANER and how flammable it is.

It contains over 65% ethanol and the container on the classroom wall has over a litre of the stuff in it. It will ignite at 30C in flames !!!
So be careful with seemly harmless everyday items.
Gutierrez

Next on the Discovery Channel: Microwave Exploders!
Anonymous

What? He didn’t fill the bottle with gasoline? Fail!
Anonymous

Seems like a JB Weld would have been easier, and could have been formed into the mouth and up and around the threads. JB Weld is a lot more accessible and easier to work with than resin (if you’re not careful, you can create a nice little fire with resin by adding too much kicker).
WaylonWillie

i had expected him to put the remains into a high-speed washing-machine, but no.
nixiebunny

I’d say that he solved his problem very nicely. Epoxy resin is very useful stuff.

That oven looks like my mailbox looked after some 4th of July pranksters put a big cherry bomb in it.
sabeke

Looks like a Darwin Award waiting to happen.
- prion
  
  I agree. He cannot find a more suitable location?
Jewels Vern

Well, that’s ok, but if you want parts you should use the more traditional screwdriver.

What is fiberglass resin? I assume he meant urethane or styrene or other specific kind of resin. “Fiberglass” does not identify any particular kind. In any case, the average dude is going to use epoxy because it’s so easily available and functionally the same thing.
Anonymous

I wonder what his home insurance provider thinks about all this. Or his neighbours. Or his family. Or the local fire department.
Anonymous

this is probably not the best day to post explosion videos, with a nuke reactor still melting…we’re all in suspense waiting to hear the outcome of that one. the little 20 min suspense from this microwave is somehow less exciting
awjtawjt

What a nice metaphor for a nuclear reactor vessel that ran out of water and all the valves are sealed.
Anonymous

Thanks! I needed a microwave Jerk!
Aknaton

Some time ago I typed “is it a good idea to” into Google Suggest. It completed to “is it a good idea to microwave an airbag”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhjHAPw1q-M

Jump to 3:00 to see the answer. Hint: no.
misadventures213

Yes, but Will It Blend?
Cochituate

Wow. Glad I’m not one of his neighbors!
von Bobo

unrequited childhood need?
von Bobo

22 minutes from trigger to detonation? what happens if someone comes home, or the dog gets out the door, or some other emergency happens? this is just dumb… obviously.
- dculberson
  
  21 minutes in:
  
  “I just need to go get the ladder.”
  
  AIEEEEEE
- firebush69
  
  Dude- it’s a video. On the internet. On Youtube. I don’t think any of us are going to be trying to imitate this guy anytime soon- it’s okay to relax and not be in control every now and then. Just sayin’.
- Gilbert Wham
  
  What happens if he lives on his own & doesn’t have a dog?
  - von Bobo
    
    seriously? anything can happen over the course of 22 minutes. The point is that if he has to shut down the microwave because of x happening, he still has a triggered device on his hands. Have you ever heard any detonation countdown that ends with “3-2-1… now everyone wait around for I don’t know how long and lets just hope nothing interrupts us”.
    
    The whole thing is so rediculous, I doubt the real science heads on this blog are even going to respond to this video. We’re talking 25% America’s Funniest Home Videos mixed with 75% Jackass the Movie here.
    - a
      
      He’s doing it in his garage…presumably he can lock the doors to stop anyone else gaining access.
      
      Some other emergency? Like what? Really really needs a spanner?
      - von Bobo
        
        so… you don’t find anything you would do differently?
PaulR

To be accurate: resin doesn’t ‘dry’, it ‘sets’.
bcsizemo

I bet his neighbors love him…

“What was that?.. Oh he’s just blowing up microwaves in the garage again.”

I’ll be your neighbor, cause that’s so kick ass.

I do have to wonder if there is anything else in the bottle. Looks like a tad of water would speed things along. (Or something else with a low boiling point and high vapor pressure.)
CCinBmore

Reminds me of a remarkably stupid thing I did several years ago.

My wife and I were visiting my mom’s house. Being generally challenged by all things physical and/or mechanical, she asked our help removing the stopper from a small glass vial of liquid (mostly water – I don’t recall what it was mixed with). This is the sort of vial that has a glass-on-glass mating area where the stopper is roughened. Our task was to access the contents and save the vial.

We began with manual attempts, being careful not to torque the head of the stopper off. No luck.

Next, we put physics to work. I reasoned that gentle heating of the contents should produce pressure inside the bottle, helping to force the stopper out. I also hoped that heating the glass would “grow” the inner diameter of the neck of the bottle slightly, not unlike how vehicle axle-ends are sometimes assembled.

It should be clear by now how this ended.

We heated the vial in the microwave for very short periods, perhaps 2-3 seconds at a time. After each round we would extract it and try to remove the stopper. This went on for many, many rounds of heating. At no point did the bottle become too hot to handle so we never were concerned that it might explode. Until it exploded. In the kitchen. With the three of us less than 5 feet away.

The door was blown open, the bottle shattered, and everything on top of the microwave was knocked off. Glass was ejected across the kitchen. We were (magically) unharmed. The top of the microwave had a conical dent about 2″ high. We figure this happened when the stopper was blown upward from the explosion. Yes, the stopper was completely intact, still firmly embraced by the neck of the bottle.

I bought her a new microwave the same afternoon.
firebush69

I want to know what’s going on with that homemade high-speed camera- anybody know what’s going on there?
RedShirt77

I saw this and thought. “well, that seems unsafe.”

Reading the comment string has only made me love boing boing commenters even more.
Anderson Council

When ever I hear death metal with vocals like that, I can only picture Cookie Monster screaming into, then consuming the microphone.
- Anonymous
  
  I was going to say the same thing: sounds like Cookie Monster. I thought it was a parody at first, actually.
Andrea Ettore Bernagozzi

Wonderful home made hommage to the famous final scene of the movie Zabriskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni: see http://bit.ly/KJSr8
hancocks

Boy, he sure has an understanding mom…

“Hey, Sonny Boy, didja cook off the 1988 Amana Radarange II yet? How’d that go?”
tylersweeney

They always say don’t try this at home, but then the video is always of some guy trying it at home.
- Donald Petersen
  
  It’s what the internet’s for. They blow stuff up so we don’t have to.
  
  Still, every now & then, I’m That Guy.