Status: Undetermined
I've
posted before about theories that microwaved food is bad for you, but this is slightly different. Some guy has posted pictures of his
granddaughter's science fair project in which she tested the effect microwaved water would have on a plant. The result: the plant died. (Yes, the water had been cooled before she watered the plant with it.) But the plant given water that had been boiled on a stove did just fine. So what does this prove? That microwaved water is toxic? Not necessarily. The guy notes:
We have seen a number of comments on this, such as what was the water in the microwave boiled in. The thinking is that maybe some leaching took place if it was in plastic. It was boiled in a plastic cup, so this could be a possibility. Also it was not a double blind experiment, so she knew which was which when watering them. On top of that she was wanting the microwaved ones to do poorly, and although most scientists would dismiss the idea, it is possible that her thoughts toward each plant had an effect as well. Bottom line is, the results are interesting, and duplicate the results that others have reported (try Googling '"microwaved water" plants') more experiments need to be done with better controls and as a double blind study. But this was a simple 6th grade science fair project, and was never intended to be anything more than that. The plants were genetically identical, they were produced from graphs from the same parent plant, so that variable can be eliminated.
Intriguingly, the Straight Dope (a source I usually trust) has written an article about
the controversy over microwave cooking, and he notes that scientists actually do not fully understand the chemical changes that take place when food is microwaved, and so there may indeed be some kind of "microwave effect." He notes a 1992 Stanford study that found microwaving breast milk mysteriously reduces its infection-fighting properties, as well as studies that have found that microwaves can accelerate certain chemical reactions. He writes:
"'One suggestion,' a bunch of chemists wrote recently, 'is that this is some form of 'ponderomotive' driving force that arises when high frequency electric fields modulate ionic currents near interfaces with abrupt differences in ion mobility.'" He doesn't attempt to explain this theory.
I would repeat the girl's experiment myself, but everything I try to grow mysteriously dies, so there wouldn't be much point. (via
The Greener Side)
Comments
Equipment:
9 plastic yoghurt cups (for pots), 3 labeled A, 3 labeled B, and 3 labeled C
3 small Pyrex bowls (for pots), labeled A, B, or C
3 small glass bowls (for pots), labeled A, B, or C
48 dried kidney beans
Potting soil
1 pint Pyrex measuring cup
3 glasses, labeled red, yellow, or blue
Preparations:
All of the pots were thoroughly washed and dried. The potting soil was thoroughly mixed, and equal amounts of it were put into each pot in random order. The beans were all put in a bowl and drawn out in random order to be placed in each pot. There are to be three beans in each pot, except for in the Pyrex bowls (which are slightly larger than the others, and will each have four).
The pots are grouped into threes: one in each group for water that has been unheated, one for water that has been microwaved to a strong boil, and one for water that has been heated to a strong boil in the oven.
The groups of three pots are to be located in various positions around the house. The three glass bowls, the three Pyrex bowls, and three of the plastic cups will be grouped together, with the alphabetical placement of each cup in each set varying. Each of the other two groups of three plastic cups will be located in a different place in the house. This will hopefully give some indication if any germination or failure to germinate is potentially due to environmental factors other than the water (e.g. lighting, temperature, alien death rays, et cetera).
In each case, the water is to be collected, heated (if it is to be heated), and poured into one of the three glasses using the 1 pint Pyrex cup. The preparation of the water and the pouring it into the three glasses is to be done by one person, the pouring of the water from the glasses onto the beans by a second. This way, the person watering the plants has no knowledge of which water was treated in which way.
Each pot labeled "A" is to be given water only from the glass labeled with a certain specific colour throughout the experiment. Pots labeled "B" and "C" are to be treated likewise. Which colour glass is to be used with which letter of pot is to be known only to the individual watering the plants. In this way, the person preparing the water will not know which plants are receiving which type of water.
All of the pots in each test group are to be watered as simultaneously as possible, with the same amounts of water. Nothing else is to be given to the beans at any time. If anything is given to any pot, then it is to be added to the other two pots in the group in the same amount. If any pot is moved for any reason, then the others in the group will likewise be moved. All treatment for all three pots in each group is to be the same.
Testing for germination will conclude after two weeks if no germination occurs, or if a week passes with no new germinations. The beans will be monitored for germination, as well as the apparent health and growth rate of any shoots. If there is sufficient germination among the different experimental groups to warrant it, then the experiment may be carried on for additional weeks to monitor the growth of the bean plants as they mature.
Pictures will be taken of each pot at the start of the experiment. At the first sign of germination in any pot, then pictures of every pot shall be taken on a daily basis. A daily log will also be kept for each pot.
At the end of the experiment, the results will be studied to compare the germination rates of experiment groups A, B, and C. It will then be determined whether any group displayed an overall better or worse germination rate than the other groups. After this, then it shall be made known which groups were given which type of water.
Of course, any results of your experiment are strictly anecdotal...
I might try this test again with a different batch of seeds that I get from a different store, if I feel motivated enough.
Although, I suppose since they never germinated at all, it would be seed murderer.
You will notice I didn't offer to try this. That's because it takes all the green-ness I own to keep the 3 plants I already have alive.
There are so many different possibilities for why her plant died - I highly doubt it was due to the water being microwaved.
1. L Ron Hubbard proved conclusively in the 1950s that plants respond to thought.
2. Unless a microwave mysteriously changes the chemical makeup of water, H20 goes in, boils, and H2O comes out. If something else comes out, maybe somebody should try microwaving lead -- perhaps they will get gold! 😊
2. Microwaves do have the ability to alter the chemical composition of water with contaminants, which all water contains. The question is if this actually happens in real life and does it create something that inhibits plant growth.
I probably will conclude on my paper that there is no difference.
I do have a question though. Can plants grow from pure water like distilled water? If so, the mutation or change in the solution of tap water would be negligible because plants will only use h2o. Correct me if im wrong, please.
<a >Does cooled microwaved water kill plants?</a>
If you what to see the experiment results you can go to http://www.eclecticscience.net - there is a link "Does cooled microwaved water kill plants?"
What is you test subject size. There is quite a bit of variation in plant growth as you probably know, and the more subjects you have the better. We only did the experiment for 10 days because the school year was ending, but now we are starting a new experiment with aquariums (testing both plants and fish). I have not boiled the control water, although it is bottled water, so it has been treated. For more info on our new experiment drop by our site - comments are appreciated.
I'm interested to know how your experiment turns out.
http://www.eclecticscience.net
When I started UNI, I had limited space so I cooked all my food in a microwave. 6 months later I was diagnosed with an autoimmunity. I didn't take any drugs ro meds and during that time I didn't stress. I have reason to believe that the increase in autoimmune diseases (maybe cancer as well) we see is due to the fact that more and more food companies switch to easy microwaveable food.
The key point is the experiment above is a fraud. Follow this link for why I say this:
http://www.eclecticscience.net/experiments/001-microwave-plants/original_experiment/index.html
You can't tell the truth through a lie. Just because Dr. Mercola is popular doesn't mean he is correct. Here's another view of him:
http://gyxe.com/breast-implant/5-073-dr-mercola-is-a-fraud-read.shtml
or simply Goggle his name along with the word quack and you get a lot of interesting reading. If you fear microwaved food, by all means avoid it. But don't defend obviously fraudulent web evidence. Stick to the science journals and trusted sources.
peace
i love my sis brit..and my lil nephews...foget k fed
here is the text of my abstract
We did an experiment on microwaving water. We wanted to see whether the rumor was true that microwaving water killed plants. We had looked online and supposedly some girl had done an experiment where she microwaved water and fed it to one plant and then fed another plant tap water. She said the one that got microwaved water died. We checked many other places and we also found that a Swedish scientist named Dr. Hans Hertell had conducted a similar experiment. He and some of his colleagues had eaten nothing but microwaved food for a week. After the experiment, they had increased cholesterol and decrease hemoglobin levels and they also had a lower white blood cell percentage. When we tried to find more experiments with plants we could not find anything but the one source. So we decided to do an experiment with more complicated variables to see if it really was the microwaved water that killed the plant.
For our experiment we fed 8 different solutions to 32 different pole bean plants. Our solutions were microwaved, boiled, distilled, and tap water all either with or without fertilizer. Each day we fed the plants a set amount of their solutions usually from 3 to 5 tablespoons on each solution. Then we measured the plants. We only put in fertilizer once a week. We user skewers to hold the plants up and we tried to measure them several times.
Our experiment is done and we have found that the microwaved water has not killed the plants. The microwaved plants were actually doing quite fine and some are taller than the boiled and distilled too.
Yes, it's a tiny sample set. Yes, lots of things could account for the differences. I don't claim anything other than "here's another datapoint".
The water used for both plants came from the bottled water we have delivered to our house. We boiled one batch on the stove in a pot and the other in a pyrex container in the microwave. The water boiled for 10 minutes in each case. It was then stored in plastic Dasani water containers which had been washed out with soap, rinsed thoroughly, and allowed to dry. After that, we simply watered the plants every day making a small effort to put the same amount of water into each pot.
Here's the link to the images:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/11367898@N06/tE769B
http://microwavetest.blogspot.com/
For the person claiming "Microwaved food has been PROVEN to be different and harful [sic] to human consumption...," please list the studies. I know of no reputable study that confirms this statement. I'm not saying it isn't possible, I saying show me the evidence.
I didn't boil the water (why would you??) just heated it. I also heated 'control' water on a stove to the same temp (75C) cooled it then germinated and grew wheatgrass. Each day with freshly microwaved and heated water.
One batch with untreated water.
One batch with water that was re-microwaved daily to make sure I "killed" it!
The result: growth rate, size, appearance and taste....all the same!