Jump to content

Menu

'splain me this - science question


Recommended Posts

How is it that I can put a cup of coffee in the microwave, burn my hand on the mug, and still have a liquid that is less than warm?

 

Despite my goofy thread title, I really am looking for a serious answer. Anyone know?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest inoubliable

Many moons ago, a professor in college was late to a lecture. He explained his tardiness, waving a bandaged hand, with the excuse of "I burned my hand, badly, on my coffee mug this morning!". To the tittering of the lecture hall, he launched into something about... pigments used to "paint" and glaze coffee mugs containing metal oxides. Metal retaining the heat from the heating element of the coffee maker far beyond what the water in the coffee did. Or something like that. He also raged about "cheap coffee mugs made in China containing lead". I've never heard anyone else mention or ask about something like this before or since. Until now. :tongue_smilie:

 

Hope your hand feels better soon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is dependent on the material of the cup. Generally if I use a wide mouth microwave safe cup to heat up milk or coffee, I can set it to high for a minute. If I use a normal size microwave safe cup than I have to set it longer on medium.

 

And I try to remember to place my cup in the middle of the microwave turntable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, that makes sense. I was using a hand painted mug signed ~Tim. I looked on the bottom for the microwave-safe label, which wasn't there, so it is probably not microwave safe.

 

So, a follow up question or two. Does anyone know what they change in the ceramic/porcelain/china/paint/whatever to make it more microwave safe? Do you think my mug really could contain lead? I didn't buy it that long ago. Yikes!

 

Inoubliable - Your professor almost sounds like a parody of a professor - bumbling, overly talkative, weirdly obsessed with details, and strangely endearing at the same time. What a goof!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because microwaves are really alien robots that have infiltrated our earth in order to drive us crazy.

 

Oh, yeah, you wanted a serious answer. :tongue_smilie: I can't help you there.

 

Lynne, you get the prize for my favorite reply :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest inoubliable

 

Inoubliable - Your professor almost sounds like a parody of a professor - bumbling, overly talkative, weirdly obsessed with details, and strangely endearing at the same time. What a goof!

 

He was ancient. And a paranoid loon. LOL. Made for fun classes, though. The class was a history class, and we rarely talked about history. It was stuff like how his neighbor's dogs were purposely peeing on his garden to make his tomatoes taste more like...urine. Seriously. Or, the time he broke us up into groups to devote class time for a debate preparation - on why or why not he should bother with going to his niece's wedding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some glazes are colored with metal. Yellow glazes are almost always unsafe for the microwave, and I think many reds as well. IIR.

 

My husband's dishes he had when we met are black, and they definitely get hot faster than my set, which is white w blue trim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...