Popcorn mit with the cell phone Jun, 13, 2008

A new handful of YouTube videos supposedly show cell phones popping popcorn. You might got the weblink from your friends this week.



The method: Surround kernels with a few cell phones and call the phones. When they ring, the kernels pop. The videos have gotten a couple million combined views, and they've seemingly convinced many commenters to fear phones, despite the several obvious signs that they're fake.

From my point of view, A Popcorn kernels need to be heated to around 450F before the moisture inside them turns to steam, causing them to explode and pop. The video is just a YouTube hoax. Somebody make the video and put a heater under beneath the table.

With some scientific sense, you will realize what's wrong inside the YouTube hoax.

It's scientifically impossible. The energy emitted by mobile phones (from 0.1 to 1 watt) isn't nearly powerful enough to sufficiently raise the food's temperature. A one kilowatt microwave takes around one minute to pop its first kernel, and that's in a closed environment.

Remember, the first food to be deliberately cooked with Spencer's microwave was popcorn which exploded in the face of one of the experimenters. He will not agree the 0.1 watt can pop the kernel. Anyway, this simple experiment with cell phone radiowaves ought to be easy enough to be duplicated in every lunch room in your company. Have fun with it!