Weird question about carrots & sparks??

[Sarah O]

Hey guys,

Anyone have any thoughts on some pretty paranormal happenings in my microwave???  I put a carrot cube in there to defrost, just like I do with all my baby food, and I hear these popping noises almost instantly so I look through the glass and holy cow, my carrots have sparks coming out of them!!!

Is my microwave possessed or is there some natural explanation?

Sarah
P.S  I swear it's not sleep-deprivation hallucinations...

[Shdef]

Something wrong with it 

I never saw that... I'll look out the next time


You could send that to Fortean Times!

http://www.forteantimes.com

[tylersmommy]

You're not alone! I had that happen! Mine happened with unpeeled cooked carrot bits, so I always assumed that it was the peel. Even if you peel yours, maybe a bit of skin stayed on? I've never had it happen with baby carrots that I bought from the store already peeled, so that's why I figured it was the skin.

[Sarah O]

Melissa - it was the bagged baby carrots that I used, so it can't be the peel causing it...!  Methinks some internet research is called for....now what on earth do I enter into Google?? Carrot combustion??

 

[Mariek]

That sounds like a question for the Brainiacs!! I'm sure they must have a website - I'll see if I can find one..

love

[Mariek]

Sarah

Looks like there's a scientific explanation - so its not your sleep deprived brain going potty

If you often cook mixed vegetables from frozen in a microwave, on a
microwaveable plate you may notice that carrots
produce sparks during cooking and, on closer examination, they display
small burns. Why is this? several factors make frozen carrots susceptible
to the effect described (although other vegetables also do this).

Firstly, dense vegetables such as carrots have a higher amount of minerals
in them - iron, magnesium and selenium - than other food items and
sometimes create an arcing effect in a microwave.  This tends to happen
more in glass dishes. Sparks result as the microwaves reflect or bounce off
the metal. the "arcing" does not harm the food, but it does prevent it from
heating thoroughly because reflected microwaves will not cook.  Also,
extensive arcing can damage your oven's magnetron tube. If arcing
occurs,turn off the microwave oven and finish cooking the food on the range
top.
Arcing may occur in other vegetables, and most often appears in green
peppers and green beans.

Secondly, while microwaves are extremely good at heating liquid water, ice
is almost totally transparent to them, so it is actually quite difficult to
get ice to melt in a domestic microwave oven. The "defrost" option on a
microwave oven relies on intermittent heating of a small amount of liquid
water present on the food, and heat conduction from these areas into frozen
material. By putting frozen material into the microwave oven with
continuous energy input, no time is given for thermal conductivity effects,
and therefore a colossal heating effect occurs on a very localised surface
area. These areas, typically at the extreme point of the carrot, will dry
out rapidly and then char, essentially forming small carbon points.

Thirdly, carrots are relatively large objects (compared to, say frozen
peas) and because microwaves are essentially varying high voltage fields, a
large alternating electrical potential exists between the highly conductive
charred sections.

Finally, carrots are generally given quite angular cuts, giving sharp
points which will yield the highest field gradients. The
combination of a large alternating field across a good electrical conductor
with sharp points causes electrical breakdown of the air and the sparks
which accompany this. Depending upon the precise conditions, it is equally
possible for charring to be a secondary effect, rather than a cause. In
this case, the discharge may originate from uncharred points, with charring
only occurring as a huge current passes through a relatively small point.

HTH

love

[Sarah O]

Wow Marie!!  Thanks - that's a really thorough explanation for something I thought must be my imagination going crazy!!   

[Mariek]

Wow Marie!! Thanks - that's a really thorough explanation for something I thought must be my imagination going crazy!!

LOL Sarah. I tell you, the power of Google never ceases to amaze me. It's astounding what useless information you can find when you go looking

love

[Ennypen]

Thats amazing!

I'm a google fanatic too - amazing isn't it.. how did we ever find anything out without it... ( I know trudge down to the library and spend all day looking in books... lol)

[Marisa's Mom]

Thanks for that explanation. I was wondering this myself as I noticed this happening in our microwave with stuff like carrots & sweet potato. I noticed that it is less likely to happen if I add a little water to the dish before microwaving.

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

Wow! I've never noticed sparks, but after reading that I have had little black burnt spots on carrots!

I also love google - I just treat it like my own big library, couldn't do without it.