Microwave water experiment

[debtheweb]

So my boyfriend read a study about flowers being watered and compared with 1. tap water and 2. microwave water.

So we bought sunflower seeds and planted 3 in each pot. We watered one pot with tap water and another with microwave water that was microwaved for 1 minute (or until boiling point, but we let it become room temperature before watering the plant)

And in three days the 1. tap water sunflower grew 3 stems! With beauitful healthy leaves. The 2. microwave water sunflower also grew stems but they started to limp over and the leaves were welting and turning brown.

What do you all think? Our experiment is still going on, no sunflower yet, so we shall see.

 

[ChanellG]

Are you also boiling the tap water?

Someone shared a link to that study on Facebook. I re-shared it to my wall and someone claimed the story was "bogus" and that it had been disputed on another site. I asked for the link, and sure enough the second site claimed there was nothing to the claims in the first article.

I read a long time ago (before microwaves) that you shouldn't keep reheating the same water for tea because each time it had some kind of effect on the oxygen molecules in the water. However, when there's a question with the tap water after a storm or loss of pressure, we're told to boil the water to make it potable. You would think if it were good for us...

 

[Gina145]

I saw the study on Facebook too. Sometimes it's really difficult to know what to believe because either the person who first posted the study or the person who says it's bogus may have a hidden agenda. We're living in a world where everyone with a financial stake in something will try to convince us that their way is right and it's gotten to a point where it can be difficult to trust anyone.

What I do know about microwaves is that a business acquaintance was told by his homeopath that using microwaves is very bad for our health.

I don't have a microwave, otherwise I would have been very interested in putting this study to the test myself.

 

[Ian]

Here's a link to "snopes" - a nifty site that tries to give a little more info on myths, e-mail forwards and rumours. It's an interesting read:

http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp

 

[Gina145]

Thanks for the link Ian. It's very interesting. That experiment was certainly done with more control that the original, but even that was done with a small sample and over a short period of time. It's difficult to reach any conclusions one way or another.

I think this is an illustration of the dangers of experiments involving both food and medicine. In some cases conditions can be manipulated to produce the desired results.

 

[maddie]

I have read this somewhere a long time ago and I almost stopped microwaving my food before eating. I used to drink most of my water microwaved before I read this study on the www. I bought a myself a kettle , now I always drink water from the kettle. I still do use the microwave to warm up food at times.. I think I need to throw it out. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for the link Ian.. Maybe not

 

[Gina145]

Your reaction interests me, maddie. My family has never owned a microwave, largely due to reluctance on my mother's part. About two weeks ago I had finally convinced her that it would be convenient to own one and we got as far as picking out the one we were going to buy. Then I read through the manual and realized that we didn't have a safe place to keep one. When I saw this study on Facebook my mother was convinced that she'd been right all along.

 

[ChanellG]

I think that link on Snopes is the one the person disputing the experiment posted as their proof.

I try to not use the microwave. I don't have one of my own at the moment, but I have access to one next door. I basically use it to heat up leftovers just because it is quick and convenient, but I have started buying those glass food containers that go from freezer to oven to table.

 

[Patsy]

I remember seeing the facebook postings on this and wasn't convinced. For one thing it'd need more than two plants or it could just be coincidence that one died. I'm tempted to try an experiment myself but I need all my windowsill space for my chilli collection.

 

[ACSAPA]

My microwave died, so I haven't used one in about 6 months. The world didn't end without it, but there are certain things that are more convenient to reheat in a microwave.
I probably will eventually get another one. But I definitely won't use it as much as I used to because I've gotten used to managing without one.
Certain foods, like casseroles that have cheese in them actually taste better reheated in the regular oven instead of microwaved.

 

[debtheweb]

It's been a few days, and the sunflowers with 1. tap water is still growing healthy and strong! Each stem has 4 gorgeous leaves, while 2. microwave water is not really growing. It's still green with a little brown and limp. We are planning to redo the study soon after the flowers grow to rule out any third variables incase there were defected seeds.Thanks for everyone's responses.

 

[Gardener]

I still use my microwave, but not for water. I only use it to reheat food and leftovers. I don't think it would have an impact on the water, as it only vibrates the hydrogen atoms at a rate of billions of times per second. This friction causes the water to boil, but after it cools a little bit, it should be fine to drink. I remember looking at a site that shows how much each electronic device uses, and microwaves use about 4 cents/15 minutes, which was pretty shocking to me. That is pretty cheap, and if scientists could give evidence for microwaves not posing a threat, then it could save people a lot of money and energy.

 

[Mariam]

Interesting experiment! I hate to use my microwave, it just kind of creeps me out. If it ever goes out, I will probably not buy one. I reheat all my left overs in the toaster oven. I use Snopes to check out info, too. It comes in handy.

Keep us updated on your plants.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

This is interesting and I will see if I can dig up some reliable (verified) results. Water doesn't contain DNA and wouldn't be subject to that type of corruption. as a science guy, two possibilities come to mind: The first is that the dissolved oxygen is recombining to form ozone. (O3 instead of O2) The second thing that I can think of is that the water molecules may be binding to form peroxide. (H2O2 instead of H2O). I am only speculating here, but either chemical change could affect the health of a plant.