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
because of the way they work literally blow apart bacteria within fractions of a second killing them instantaneously this means you are more than very un lightly to get any sort of food poisoning from something cooked in a microwave oven than conventionally. I have been using them for over 30 years & found this to be the case so far...
I am also an electronics design Eng so fully understand their workings( also having repaired industrial ones ). microwave ovens have safety devices built in which prevent any exposure to microwaves. out of the millions sold how many documented law suits have you read about where manufactures paid out compensation? I have never seen any ever!
Also the plant itself could have been unhealthy or the soils could have been different with one plant getting more nutrients than the other.
1. Plant handler
2. Intermediary
3. Water handler
4. Independent Trustee
The plant handler plants an even number of plants in a tray. Trays might favor some regions (light, heat, etc.) so the distribution of A and B seeds within the tray should be set up as a checker board. Markings must be minimal (if the A's are in white containers and the B's are in black ones, the experiment is bad in several ways). Identical labels, toothpicks, placement and depth, pen ink, etc. must be used.
Procedure:
1. Intermediary makes all the "A" and "B" labels that both the water and plant handlers will need.
2. Working alone, seeds are planted. The plant handler tries for uniformity but is assumed to fail ("he got better, or more bored, as he went along", etc).
3. Working alone, the intermediary uses dice to randomly transfer containers into a the final tray. Last, he then flips a coin to label the plants with a checker board patter with "A" vs. "B" in the top left corner.
4. Working alone, the water handler flips a coin for "A" vs. "B" to be the microwaved sample. He writes this down in two copies with trustee present. One for his wallet to use, one for the trustee.
5. Each day, working alone, the water handler boils the "A" and "B" water as per the initial coin toss. This is done in identical pyrex glassware for both the microwave and burner methods, at power levels such that both samples boil in/for about the same period of time. He places the "A" and "B" samples in the cooling area or fridge.
6. Later in each day, working alone, the plant handler waters the appropriate plants with the cooled "A" and "B" samples, checking for identical temperature.
7. Working alone, when the experimental period is over, the intermediary (who has no idea which type of water is "A" or "B") measures/photographs/etc. the plants. He must NOT allow the water handler to find out about these results, or the plant handler to do the measuring.
8. Finally, the trustee, with everyone present, produces the sealed envelope, and any differences in the A and B groups can now be attributed to the type of boiling method actually used.
Personally, I doubt under these conditions that microwaved water will be any different. But, hey, it doesn't matter what I think: this method will PROVE it.
As a scientist you can never say stuff like "Technically speaking there isn't anything in water that can make it toxic." That's wrong for known reasons, for instance the H2O could be made with Tritium (a radioisotope of hydrogen). A glass of that type of H2O would kill really, really quickly and certainly. Or something else weird could be going on, that's the thing. That's where we, as scientists, must never say never. Instead we go "hmm, what the heck, maybe" and DO THE UNBIASED EXPERIMENTS.
As for the breast milk argument, they have found that breast milk transfers bateria necessary to help digest foods and build an immune system to the child. When you microwave something, any bacteria or other organism will die because the hydrogen in its "body" (cell wall) will vibrate and heat up, effectively killing it. You are essentially disinfecting the breast milk by killing the good bacteria that newborns need introduced into their intestinal track.
My question about the experiment is if she let the water cool down before watering the plants. Hot or warmed water can damage roots and lead to the death of a plant, which would pretty much leave this experiment unreliable. There isn't enough information about the scientific process, and unless it is reproduced in a sealed environment with a proper report we won't know the true answer.
Because if I think back to my middle school projects, I would have done anything to prove my hypothesis. Kids can't really grasp the idea that proving your hypothesis right isn't the goal, and doesn't guarantee a good mark on the project.