Someone ‘Proves’ Microwaves Are Very Dangerous, All Their ‘Facts’ Get Debunked One By One
The microwave oven is generally believed to be invented by American engineer Percy Spencer, who, while visiting a lab that was testing radar technology after WW2, felt a peanut bar start to cook in his pocket.
His curiosity piqued, he did further research by harnessing the microwave energy in a box and directing it towards some popcorn and an egg. The popcorn exploded all over the place, while the inside of the egg heated up so quickly it burst the shell and left an assistant with egg on his face. Soon after in 1946 his company, Raytheon, patented an oven that heated food using microwave energy, and the microwave oven was born.
Ever since, rumors have circulated about the dangers of microwave ovens, with people most likely spooked by the word ‘radiation,’ and conspiracy theories making links to things like DNA damage and cancer.
Jump to 2018 and we are still at it. A post recently showed up on Reddit’s ‘MurderedByWords‘ sub, with somebody using a secondary school project as ‘evidence’ for the insidious nature of the humble microwave.
While the experiment itself was pretty cool and raises a few questions, this person took an inch and ran a mile, making some pretty outrageous claims on the back of it.
Now, there are responses, and there are responses. Carefully deconstructing the claims piece by piece, we learn about DNA, cells, radiation and vitamins, among other things, meaning that yes, you can go ahead and zap that popcorn in peace.
Here’s what people had to say about the word-murder
I have commented several times on the fact that to deny science is to hinder science. This kind of superficial junk science misinforms and distorts what real science is and what real science does.
Very true and very scary. Every time I get a new prescription from my doctor I start doing research (to see if it's compatible with my other meds, lifestyle etc.) My doctor has many patients and even though I trust her with my life I still like to remind myself that she's human so I can do a little extra in case she was tired that day or something. It's REALLY hard to find the serious articles today... I even found a website one time that said "all people who uses Keppra are under the governments control." Wtf? x'D
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Lol I dunno why but this was the funniest word murder I've read in a while... The original post was so stupid it's like they wanted to get made fun of XD
I saw a murder of crows... now I am left wondering if they microwaved their water before drinking. LOL (sorry I couldn't resist.)
I think I want to try that trick with sending massages to the past. My back needed some massaging a few hours ago
I tried the experiment of waterinng the plants. And I certified it works. I have a scientific explaination : you have to cool the water before watering the plant with microwaved water...
There might actually be something in that for all I know: did she cool both water samples to the same temperature, or did she just leave them both to cool for a short while and assume they were equivalent? Microwaved water may heat unevenly, reach higher temperatures and take longer to cool.
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I like it how the article introduces us to the topic with "Carefully deconstructing the claims piece by piece", and then you start reading the actual thing, and it bombs you with "a s**t ton of f***s" right from the start. That's not my definition of "carefully". But, please, moderators, DO NOT change the text, it's really awsome as it is. ♥
I'm just a little surprised at that nurse that 'warmed' the blood for transfusion- in a microwave?!?!
There is no point denying... Microwave kills! . . . . . . Try dropping it on ones head. (Thats the only way it could)
There's more radioactive material in smoke detectors. David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 – September 27, 2016[1]), sometimes called the Radioactive Boy Scout or the Nuclear Boy Scout, was an American who in 1994, at age 17, attempted to build a homemade breeder reactor. A scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Commerce Township, Michigan. While his reactor never reached criticality, Hahn attracted the attention of local police when he was stopped on another matter and they found material in his vehicle that troubled them, and he warned that it was radioactive. His mother's property was cleaned up by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ten months later as a Superfund cleanup site. Hahn attained Eagle Scout rank shortly after his lab was dismantled.[2]
This experiment was conducted by a student in secondary school in Sussex? Years back, it was someone's granddaughter in elementary school. Maybe it's the same kid and she trots out the experiment every few years. Somewhere, a thesis advisor is thinking "Nope, not pulling that c**p on me".
See - another intelligent remark. DID this really happen? That's a good question.
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And yet, some people will read this whole thing and go with the first one because of how it feels.
Well of course it's not "science" nor is it "scientific method" nor is it even valid, it's some kid in school. Why do people believe such nonsense.
Why do you say this? Now, I don't see why there would be a difference between boiled vs microwaved water, but the experiment, if done as recorded, certainly is following the scientific method. Do you think that just because an outcome isn't what YOU think it should be, it's not scientific? What's not scientific is the 'explanation'.
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If microwaves ae so safe why do I have first degree burns from touching water straight out of it? Yeah, science, bet ou can't answer this #wakeup
ALSO THEY MAKE EGGS EXPLODE!!!ONE!!ELEVEN! EGGSPLODE!
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Any explanation that is full of profanities tends to sound more like drunken raving than the credible explanation it may be.
I don't buy all the 'explanations' given. What I want to know (the ONLY thing - which doesn't seem to have been addressed) is whether the experiment happened, was rigged or not, & could be duplicated. I'm thinking not, but no where is this stated. Instead people seem to be focused on trashing the explanations (which sound totally bogus to little non-scientist me, so I'm sure to a real scientist are laughable). This is the soul of debunking. Instead of looking at the trigger event objectively, they attack the 'explanation' of said event. Which does nothing to explain the event in question. So DID this child fake her school project experiment? or was something else going on? Inquiring minds want to know.
It's one pair of plants, which isn't really a significant sample size: there are many possible reasons besides microwaves harming water or fakery for one plant dying while a similar one next to it thrives. A real scientist who observed such a phenomenon might repeat the experiment, carefully, with multiple plants.
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"If you connect it to a cell phone and plug it to the same source as a CRT you might might end up creating a particle accelerator..." I am mad scientist! It's so COOL! Sunnovabitsh! :P
Thur original writer said the girl cooled the microwaved water down before using and the other plant was rcving boiled water cooled down. Now I'm not saying I agree with her claims cause I don't, but if that's true, I do wonder what the real reason is as to why that plant wouldn't live. Any ideas?
This is why you don't have elementary kids who can't understand real scientific experiments perform fake experiments as if they will actually learn something. It is also why you shouldn't ask a kid to write an essay on anything other than their own life. We encourage them (in the US at least) to have opinions before they have the knowledge to back it up. We're teaching them the wrong thing by doing so. Everyone feels like their uninformed opinion is important and worth sharing and they will hold onto it dearly. It's somewhat a human trait and part of the problem is there is just too much knowledge now for any adult to know most everything like we used to. But we persist in having opinions, anyway. Let's not encourage that.
Nonsense. Science projects and experiments in school are excellent ways to teach the scientific method. This student did a perfectly acceptable science project. Of course anything like this needs repeating, with larger samples, more oversight, etc etc etc, in order to form any kind of meaningful conclusions. but in this case a teacher who went through the entire process with this girl to find out exactly what she did or didn't do that might have caused this result would be the proper reaction - and learning experience. You do not seem to understand how to teach LOL
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Am I the only one who had no idea water had dna? Does it have? Or another crazy nonsense?
It doesn't. Of course not. It's not a living organism.
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I have reproduced the experiment of watering the plant and got the VERY SAME RESULT. I have found the scientific explaination: cool the water before watering with moicrowaved water...
Thur original writer said they cooled it and the other plant was rcving boiled water cooled down. Now I'm not saying I agree with her claims cause I don't, but if that's true, I do wonder what the real reason is as to why that plant wouldn't live. Any ideas?
Load More Replies...
Could’ve been a fluke. That’s why when you do an experiment you need to do it over and over to make sure your results are accurate and not mistakes on your end
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I have commented several times on the fact that to deny science is to hinder science. This kind of superficial junk science misinforms and distorts what real science is and what real science does.
Very true and very scary. Every time I get a new prescription from my doctor I start doing research (to see if it's compatible with my other meds, lifestyle etc.) My doctor has many patients and even though I trust her with my life I still like to remind myself that she's human so I can do a little extra in case she was tired that day or something. It's REALLY hard to find the serious articles today... I even found a website one time that said "all people who uses Keppra are under the governments control." Wtf? x'D
Load More Replies... Lol I dunno why but this was the funniest word murder I've read in a while... The original post was so stupid it's like they wanted to get made fun of XD
I saw a murder of crows... now I am left wondering if they microwaved their water before drinking. LOL (sorry I couldn't resist.)
I think I want to try that trick with sending massages to the past. My back needed some massaging a few hours ago
I tried the experiment of waterinng the plants. And I certified it works. I have a scientific explaination : you have to cool the water before watering the plant with microwaved water...
There might actually be something in that for all I know: did she cool both water samples to the same temperature, or did she just leave them both to cool for a short while and assume they were equivalent? Microwaved water may heat unevenly, reach higher temperatures and take longer to cool.
Load More Replies... I like it how the article introduces us to the topic with "Carefully deconstructing the claims piece by piece", and then you start reading the actual thing, and it bombs you with "a s**t ton of f***s" right from the start. That's not my definition of "carefully". But, please, moderators, DO NOT change the text, it's really awsome as it is. ♥
I'm just a little surprised at that nurse that 'warmed' the blood for transfusion- in a microwave?!?!
There is no point denying... Microwave kills! . . . . . . Try dropping it on ones head. (Thats the only way it could)
There's more radioactive material in smoke detectors. David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 – September 27, 2016[1]), sometimes called the Radioactive Boy Scout or the Nuclear Boy Scout, was an American who in 1994, at age 17, attempted to build a homemade breeder reactor. A scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Commerce Township, Michigan. While his reactor never reached criticality, Hahn attracted the attention of local police when he was stopped on another matter and they found material in his vehicle that troubled them, and he warned that it was radioactive. His mother's property was cleaned up by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ten months later as a Superfund cleanup site. Hahn attained Eagle Scout rank shortly after his lab was dismantled.[2]
This experiment was conducted by a student in secondary school in Sussex? Years back, it was someone's granddaughter in elementary school. Maybe it's the same kid and she trots out the experiment every few years. Somewhere, a thesis advisor is thinking "Nope, not pulling that c**p on me".
See - another intelligent remark. DID this really happen? That's a good question.
Load More Replies... And yet, some people will read this whole thing and go with the first one because of how it feels.
Well of course it's not "science" nor is it "scientific method" nor is it even valid, it's some kid in school. Why do people believe such nonsense.
Why do you say this? Now, I don't see why there would be a difference between boiled vs microwaved water, but the experiment, if done as recorded, certainly is following the scientific method. Do you think that just because an outcome isn't what YOU think it should be, it's not scientific? What's not scientific is the 'explanation'.
Load More Replies... If microwaves ae so safe why do I have first degree burns from touching water straight out of it? Yeah, science, bet ou can't answer this #wakeup
ALSO THEY MAKE EGGS EXPLODE!!!ONE!!ELEVEN! EGGSPLODE!
Load More Replies... Any explanation that is full of profanities tends to sound more like drunken raving than the credible explanation it may be.
I don't buy all the 'explanations' given. What I want to know (the ONLY thing - which doesn't seem to have been addressed) is whether the experiment happened, was rigged or not, & could be duplicated. I'm thinking not, but no where is this stated. Instead people seem to be focused on trashing the explanations (which sound totally bogus to little non-scientist me, so I'm sure to a real scientist are laughable). This is the soul of debunking. Instead of looking at the trigger event objectively, they attack the 'explanation' of said event. Which does nothing to explain the event in question. So DID this child fake her school project experiment? or was something else going on? Inquiring minds want to know.
It's one pair of plants, which isn't really a significant sample size: there are many possible reasons besides microwaves harming water or fakery for one plant dying while a similar one next to it thrives. A real scientist who observed such a phenomenon might repeat the experiment, carefully, with multiple plants.
Load More Replies... "If you connect it to a cell phone and plug it to the same source as a CRT you might might end up creating a particle accelerator..." I am mad scientist! It's so COOL! Sunnovabitsh! :P
Thur original writer said the girl cooled the microwaved water down before using and the other plant was rcving boiled water cooled down. Now I'm not saying I agree with her claims cause I don't, but if that's true, I do wonder what the real reason is as to why that plant wouldn't live. Any ideas?
This is why you don't have elementary kids who can't understand real scientific experiments perform fake experiments as if they will actually learn something. It is also why you shouldn't ask a kid to write an essay on anything other than their own life. We encourage them (in the US at least) to have opinions before they have the knowledge to back it up. We're teaching them the wrong thing by doing so. Everyone feels like their uninformed opinion is important and worth sharing and they will hold onto it dearly. It's somewhat a human trait and part of the problem is there is just too much knowledge now for any adult to know most everything like we used to. But we persist in having opinions, anyway. Let's not encourage that.
Nonsense. Science projects and experiments in school are excellent ways to teach the scientific method. This student did a perfectly acceptable science project. Of course anything like this needs repeating, with larger samples, more oversight, etc etc etc, in order to form any kind of meaningful conclusions. but in this case a teacher who went through the entire process with this girl to find out exactly what she did or didn't do that might have caused this result would be the proper reaction - and learning experience. You do not seem to understand how to teach LOL
Load More Replies... Am I the only one who had no idea water had dna? Does it have? Or another crazy nonsense?
It doesn't. Of course not. It's not a living organism.
Load More Replies... I have reproduced the experiment of watering the plant and got the VERY SAME RESULT. I have found the scientific explaination: cool the water before watering with moicrowaved water...
Thur original writer said they cooled it and the other plant was rcving boiled water cooled down. Now I'm not saying I agree with her claims cause I don't, but if that's true, I do wonder what the real reason is as to why that plant wouldn't live. Any ideas?
Load More Replies... Could’ve been a fluke. That’s why when you do an experiment you need to do it over and over to make sure your results are accurate and not mistakes on your end
Load More Replies... 
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