Sunday, February 26, 2012

My Own Microwave Test

Pin It Now! I received an email from a friend asking about my thoughts on microwave use and attached in the email was a science fair project involving plants and microwaves done by a child in secondary school. I found a link of the project here.

In the science fair project, a girl watered one plant with cooled water that had been boiled on a stove and the other plant with cooled water that had been boiled in the microwave. She showed that the plant that had been watered with microwaved water died within 9 days. Click the above link to view her project in full and to also read a FORENSIC RESEARCH DOCUMENT
Prepared By: William P. Kopp. I have never heard of this guy, but he writes about the health hazards of microwave use.

What does this have to do with me? Well, it peaked my interest since I am one of those people who think microwave use probably isn't all that good for you. I have always limited its use; I even went years of my marriage without even owning one. The only reason I have one now is because it came with the house. Of course, I have to admit that I do use it occasionally--it is pretty convenient every now and then!

I figured, since I am a stay-at-home-homeschool mom, that this would be a simple project for me to do.

What I did: I bought some cheap viola flower plants from Wal-Mart. I planted them into containers when I got home. I thought I had 2 plastic, black ones on hand, but I didn't so, yes, they are in different containers. (Probably not the best way to start off a scientific experiment. But I am not a real scientist and I figured it wouldn't affect this particular outcome.)

I started the project on a Thursday and watered the plants every other day or as they needed water. For a few days I kept them on my kitchen sink's windowsill. I eventually moved them outside since it is pretty warm already in AZ.



The start of my experiment: fresh violas. :) The one in the black container was watered with cooled, boiled water from the stove. The one in the pretty container my daughter made was watered with cooled, boiled water from the microwave.



A few days later: didn't see a change in the plants yet. (I was kinda hoping I would--for some reason I wanted the microwaved water to kill the plant!)



Exactly 2 weeks later: both plants seem to be thriving. Hmmm.

I didn't bother taking too many pics as the plants weren't changing. Trust me, my kids were checking daily, and now my boys don't want to take my microwave warnings too seriously!! 

I honestly wanted to use this little test to have some tangible "proof" to show my kids how horrible it is to use the microwave. Oh well. So much for that!

My thoughts on the experiment: Well, I don't think it is proof that microwaves aren't bad for us. I guess all it proves is that my particular viola plant didn't die from receiving water that had been boiled in the microwave.

My thoughts on the original science fair project: (link above) Since I wasn't there to see it play out, I can't really say. Supposedly, the experiment was repeated several times with the same results. All I know is that my plant didn't die after 2 weeks of receiving microwaved water.

Anyone else ever done this experiment?




2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Since we microwave almost daily, I'm glad to see the plant didn't die.

Welcome to the crew!

Denise said...

m currently doing the same experimentation with a bunch of flowers bought at Loblaws. The pack was of 8 units that I carefully cut into 2 batches of 4 units. To my knowledge, to be scientific, an experimentation should carry only one criteria to be reliable. In this case, the water is the one item to test. I have watered them since May 10 (12 days) and they all look very fine until now. I did this to comfort my 26 year old daughter and especially my husband who has stopped using the micro-wave since he heard of the student experiment...

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