Microwaving Grapes Makes Plasma
VeritasiumCited 4× on HN, 2020-2024
20M views · 7 years ago · demo · evergreen
Veritasium explains why a halved grape in a microwave makes plasma: the grape traps microwaves, and the fields of two halves interact to concentrate energy where they touch.
Mentioned as a classic physics demo in threads on microwaves and related resonance effects.
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4 comments from Hacker News
Pedantry, from a promateur, but also see the Veritasium tube linked elsewhere here: 0. No cutting needed whatsoever, but you do need a watch-glass. (Keeps the grapes in contact) ▶ this video
veritasium video ▶ this video Essentially, when this gets commercialized we'll be able to make room-temperature qubits using two grapes and a diamond in a microwave oven. This opens up a whole new field of "grapetronics" for scalable quantum computing hardware.
Related classics: (2019) BigClive overclocks a 120v Presto hot dogger to 250v link (2019) Veratasium grape microwave plasma ▶ this video (2022) BigClive The dangers of microwave transformers link (2016) BigClive Electrocution risk of cheap USB chargers link (2020) ElectroBOOM proves 5G isn't going to give you cancer or eat your children link
It depends on the frequency. The brain is mostly water, but there are clear differences in the dielectric constant of air, the skull (bone) and the sweet delicious gray matter inside the cavity. By tuning the frequency of the waves, you can set up resonances in the cavity. For a related effect, see ▶ this video