Cooking our brains?

[blkvelvt]

Has this been posted here before? Scary stuff.........

 

I hope this is fake but I don't think so. What do you think?

[russell_bynum]

http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp

 

[ltljohn]

Snopes says FAKE!

 

http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp

 

The popcorn was done by dropping popped corn in and then editing out the unpopped ones.

 

Russel beat me to it.

[Boffin]

Has this been posted here before? Scary stuff.........

 

I hope this is fake but I don't think so. What do you think?

 

Total BS. For a start the phone will transmit all the time (intermittent signal) to keep incontact with the cell towers, dialing them does jack. That aside, the frequency is wrong (1GHz or 2.2GHz) and has less heating power then the 3.3GHz used by microwaves. Then there is the output power of the phone, less than 1 watt, how long does it take to pop corn to pop in a 700 watt microwave?

 

Like I said, total BS.

 

Andy

[smiller]

Funny, but silly. A cellular phone doesn't even transmit (very much) when it's ringing. When you call a cellphone a message is sent to the phone telling it to ring, and then the phone sends just a short burst of data back to the network acknowledging that it is ringing. Normal transmit doesn't occur until you answer the phone.

 

[questrider]

You have just been a part of and witness to the power of viral videos:

 

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/bluetooth-compa.html

 

The power part is arguable since I'm still not sure what product it is that I'm supposed to want by viewing only the videos and not reading an article following up on them.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Has this been posted here before? Scary stuff.........

 

I hope this is fake but I don't think so. What do you think?

 

My wife saw it about a week ago. "isn't it scary?" she said.

 

"No," I replied.

 

First clue is an observation: each time a single corn kernel pops, the surrounding unpopped kernels are completely undisturbed by the incredibly violent eversion of their former neighbor. This little departure from reality hints at special effects/video editing.

 

After that, it's down to a little bit of thinking:

 

-As has been noted, there isn't a whole lot being transmitted in either direction when a cell phone is ringing: a short command from the cell tower to ring along with some caller ID data, and a short outbound acknowledgement.

 

-If indeed two to four phones put out enough microwave power to heat a handfull of corn kernels up to ~350F (what it takes to pop popcorn), then one phone would be expected to put out enough power to heat your fingers and ear (or your thigh, if you're going hands-free) to the point of extreme pain and probable burn injury. IOW, it would hurt like a sonofabitch to use your phone.

 

-If one phone put out that much power, the tiny, tiny on-board battery wouldn't last very long at all. Not only does that little battery not hold very much energy, but when you try to operate a small battery at high power, its internal ohmic resistance means that the battery itself will get smokin' hot in short order. Short out a 9-volt battery, and you'll soon see what I'm talking about. If a cell battery somehow was able to deliver that kind of power without overheating and catching fire, it would run out of energy pretty quick, and you'd end up having to charge your phone a few times a day.

 

CNN had a short video segment with the maker of the video, explaining how/why they made it.