livetoread Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I had heard of superheated water in the microwave before, but didn’t pay much attention. Today my son put a glass 2 cup measuring cup full of water into the microwave to heat for his french press coffee, like he does every morning. He left the kitchen, and I was sitting at a table situated behind the microwave. Suddenly, the microwave door flies open and scalding water is pouring out all over the counter and stove. There was only about 1/4 cup left in the measuring cup. I am very grateful no one was standing near the microwave. Some quick research says if you put a wooden stir stick in your water, it won’t happen (the science is pretty cool). Stay safe out there! 4 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Yikes! I'm glad no one got hurt! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Wow, scary! I've heard of that, too, but it falls in the category of "you never think it will happen to you". Thanks for the reminder that it could indeed happen... scary stuff. Glad everyone is okay. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Thankful that nobody was injured. My wife is cooking our Breakfast and I told her about this thread. She said it is like using a Pressure Cooker. If there is no place for the vapor to escape. She said that she only will do that for 2 minutes maximum and she believes it is safer to do that on top of the Stove. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Superheating is even scarier--water is hotter than the boiling point but due to surface tension has not bubbled--then when you nudge or even just touch the container, it suddenly explodes into bubbles and goes all over the place (because vapor takes up a lot more space than liquid.) This happened to me once when I accidentally overheated a mug of water in a microwave, and I burned my hand very badly when I reached for it. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I had that happen once, it is scary. I’m glad everyone was ok. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Wow! That's crazy! Thanks for the information. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livetoread Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 3 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said: Superheating is even scarier--water is hotter than the boiling point but due to surface tension has not bubbled--then when you nudge or even just touch the container, it suddenly explodes into bubbles and goes all over the place (because vapor takes up a lot more space than liquid.) This happened to me once when I accidentally overheated a mug of water in a microwave, and I burned my hand very badly when I reached for it. That’s what happened. It superheated and then exploded with enough force to open the microwave door. I’m not sure what made it vibrate enough to go off, but I’m glad it was before any of us were near it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Thank you for posting. I had never heard of this happening before. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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