Popping corn with cell phones?

Hi all,
This is weird but I believe it. it just goes to show you whay we are doing to ourselves.

I came across this:
fr.youtube.com...

Said, no way!

then this:
fr.youtube.com...

Ok, well maybe

Finally:
fr.youtube.com...

WOW!
Glad I don't feel the need for a cell phone.


(MOD EDIT: to correct spelling error in thread title)

[edit on 6/7/2008 by benevolent tyrant]

Wow... I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! My family does own cell phones, but they are for emergency only. I have to show my family that video.

[edit on 5-6-2008 by virraszto]

WOW
I feel like tryin this out myself
nice find

reply to post by DenverMan


My family does not use cell phones. They don't fit into our life style (we don't talk to enough people to justify owning one).

Boy am I glad..no proof as to link between cell phones and brain tumors. (yet!!)

What makes popcorn pop. By Nasa

After all the glitter and fascination subsides.. I would be seriously concerned.

What more are we not being told that may deter one from harming oneself?



[edit on 5-6-2008 by Willbert]

Well, I was going to try this with my phone, but no popcorn (guess I threw it out... it was about 15 years old, after all, lol)

My phone is Kyocera Strobe. The plastic loop at the top is the antenna. I was going to set a couple kernels in the loop and have the girlfriend call it. Maybe my friend will have some that I can use. If it works, I'll make a vid to show you all... if I can find someone with raw popcorn, lol... everyone I know uses microwave popcorn. I prefer the air popper, personally.

I can't really say I am suprised, but I am kinda shocked. I knew there was a reason I prefered to text, lol. I have the same fears about Wi-Fi and home wireless networks, honestly.

reply to post by Earthscum


I wouldn't say texting is any better; just briefer.

Anyway, it's clearly a hoax. Just do the math, people. Popcorn pops because it's partly made of water, which you boil to make pop. It's about 13 percent water. Now assuming about 2 grams of popcorn, that's about .26 grams of water. It takes 4.18 joules to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. Room temperature being about 18-20 Celsius, means it will take about 87 joules to pop the corn (assuming it does so as soon as it reaches 100 Celsius, and no heat is lost to the atmosphere). In the videos, it takes about seven seconds to start popping corn. that works out to a modest bit more than 3 watts per phone (which, I might add, is still slightly more power than any modern cellphone antenna emits. They peak at about 2W. But it's not ludicrously out of the capability of a phone).

However, phones aren't exactly lasers. They radiate omnidirectionally. the corn kernels are receiving less than 5% of the flux. Being generous, the phones would have to be putting out at least 62 watts, which would drain a typical cell phone 1000mWh battery in 58 seconds. (using all the battery's power for transmitting microwaves at 100% efficiency, leaving none to run the actual phone) I assume that your phones have longer than a 1 minute talk time?

This is, of course, all assuming perfect resonance and 100% absorption, which is ludicrous in the real world. It also assumes that only the water in the corn is being heated, and nothing else.

It reminds me of a similar confirmed hoax from england a few years back involving two cellphones cooking an egg. I am curious as to how they did it though, it would make for an awesome parlor trick.

This is the thing that bothers me most about ATS members and guests.
Every thread has someone who cries "HOAX!!"
Then tries to explain it away. The vids are from 3 different countries!
I am open to it being a hoax. I brought this to ATS because I trust a LOT of people here. Being the S/T section I figured that people would TRY it before calling HOAX.

Has anyone of the people that posted they wanted to TRY it, done so?
I want to know if it is or isn't a HOAX. I don't have the resources to try it out myself. So, anyone who HAS tried it please post the results, either
or

LOL, The truth is out there...

even if it is real im still using my cell phone. i smoke and drink, and drive a car and breathe and eat and hunt and fish and go out side and walk and sleep and most of all im alive which puts me at risk of dieing every second of my life. all of which are just as deadly..

besides cell phones are cheaper than land lines. ill give up a few years of my life to save a buck or two. it will give me less time with more money..

reply to post by DenverMan



They're ARGUABLY from different countries. They ARE all from the same youtube user...which is suspicious. Try it yourself. If if works, let us know.

Originally posted by mdiinican
reply to post by Earthscum

 

I wouldn't say texting is any better; just briefer.

Anyway, it's clearly a hoax. Just do the math, people. Popcorn pops because it's partly made of water, which you boil to make pop. It's about 13 percent water. Now assuming about 2 grams of popcorn, that's about .26 grams of water. It takes 4.18 joules to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. Room temperature being about 18-20 Celsius, means it will take about 87 joules to pop the corn (assuming it does so as soon as it reaches 100 Celsius, and no heat is lost to the atmosphere). In the videos, it takes about seven seconds to start popping corn. that works out to a modest bit more than 3 watts per phone (which, I might add, is still slightly more power than any modern cellphone antenna emits. They peak at about 2W. But it's not ludicrously out of the capability of a phone).

Ok, You are an idiot. I just tried this, and it worked!

Hoax eh? I can't believe you would do that without checking for yourself!

It takes more than one cell phone, I did it with only two iPhones!

Dejavoo. I just said this recently is the technology used by the dude in the Iron Man movie (Lebowski) was a cell phone. It cooked their faces. Remember?

That is really really REALLY weird. My brain is saying "no way, that can't be done" by my eyes are telling me otherwise.

I have about half a dozen phones, but not all with SIM cards.. I'll see what I can do!

But I'm still guessing it could be an illusion, or a heating plate under the table or something.

[edit on 6-6-2008 by mattguy404]

Originally posted by mattguy404
That is really really REALLY weird. My brain is saying "no way, that can't be done" by my eyes are telling me otherwise.

I have about half a dozen phones, but not all with SIM cards.. I'll see what I can do!

But I'm still guessing it could be an illusion, or a heating plate under the table or something.

[edit on 6-6-2008 by mattguy404]

I'm tellin you, two iPhones is all it takes But you have to use the bottoms, because that is where the antenna is.

[edit on 6-6-2008 by Quazga]

reply to post by Quazga


...wouldn't you know it, I don't have any corn to pop!!! This is going to drive me crazy

But I'll take your word for it Quazga, it's something I'm really going to have to try.

Okay, after doing a bit of research (my little engineering brain at work!) I came up with this explanation, which makes sense to me:

Cellphones operate roughly in the frequency range 0.8 to 1.9 GHz. What I learned, however, that I didn't know before, is that industrial microwave ovens often operate at 0.915 GHz, which is in that range!

en.wikipedia.org...

Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating at the common large industrial-oven microwave heating frequency of 915 MHz (0.915 GHz), also heat water and food perfectly well.

Therefore, assuming you hit the popcorn with enough power long enough, this should work just as shown, no trickery involved. Basically, you're hitting the popcorn with the same kind of waves that a microwave uses, which is actually really scary. Now, while a microwave oven is using way more power than a cellphone, also remember that the microwave is cooking (normally) a lot more than 3 or 4 kernels, and that the kernels are closer to the source of the power in the case of the cellphones than in the microwave, and wave power drops off sharply with distance.

/end geeky explanation

Originally posted by DragonsDemesne
Okay, after doing a bit of research (my little engineering brain at work!) I came up with this explanation, which makes sense to me:

Cellphones operate roughly in the frequency range 0.8 to 1.9 GHz. What I learned, however, that I didn't know before, is that industrial microwave ovens often operate at 0.915 GHz, which is in that range!

en.wikipedia.org...

Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating at the common large industrial-oven microwave heating frequency of 915 MHz (0.915 GHz), also heat water and food perfectly well.

Therefore, assuming you hit the popcorn with enough power long enough, this should work just as shown, no trickery involved. Basically, you're hitting the popcorn with the same kind of waves that a microwave uses, which is actually really scary. Now, while a microwave oven is using way more power than a cellphone, also remember that the microwave is cooking (normally) a lot more than 3 or 4 kernels, and that the kernels are closer to the source of the power in the case of the cellphones than in the microwave, and wave power drops off sharply with distance.

/end geeky explanation

Microwaves are faraday cages made of metal which reflects microwaves. Better than 90% of the roughly 1000 watts emitted from the microwaves magnetron end up hitting the food. In sharp contrast, less than 5 percent of the rays from your (~2watt) cellphones would be hitting the corn given the setup in the youtube videos.

You'll also note that the frequencies chosen for microwave ovens and for microwave communications devices are specifically chosen to not be within the optimum absorbance band of water. In communications, this is because they don't want your cellphone to cease working entirely when it's raining outside. When it comes to food microwaves, they choose it because they don't just want to burn the outside and leave the inside cold, and because they can afford to have the microwaves pass through thin food, because it's in a metal box, and will just bounce back around until it hits the food anyway.

popcorn kernels are so small that they probably won't absorb all the microwaves incident on 'em.

I can tell you that it certainly doesn't work with samsung SCH-u540s and RAZRs, and I suspect Quazga of being a disinformant or troll.

[edit on 7-6-2008 by mdiinican]

I'll be carrying popcorn in my pockets for the next few days, basically everyone I know uses a cell phone.

Thanks DenverMan for sharing that video
I wonder does that also happen with cordless home phones
I am off to get some popcorn to check this out for my self

On the surface of it, it seems unlikely, but I will round up a few phones and try it. Should have a control or two to validate the scientific process too. Will check back later and report. Gotta flee to work now.

p.s. you notice all three videos have a draped table or other things that hides what is beneath? Will still try it later.

final p.s. What made it seem dubious from the start, was the speed at which the kernels popped in the videos. I wish my microwave was this efficient.

[edited to add p.s. and final p.s.]

[edit on 7-6-2008 by argentus]

[edit on 7-6-2008 by argentus]