Cited on HN 4 times, 2020–2024, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Mentioned as a classic physics demo in threads on microwaves and related resonance effects.
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.
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]
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]
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]
Shows grape plasma needs no cutting, just a watch-glass
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.
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