Re: Light bulbs

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> > Put a bulb (either burned out or not) base down in a cup of water and
> > put it on the turntable in your microwave oven. Set it for 15 seconds
> > or so and watch it 'light up' as it passes through the 'hot spots' in
> > the oven.
>
>
> OK, I tried this and found it rather amusing. What's going on here?

"Rather amusing?" I tried it and found it spectacular! Hot sparks,
green and pink filamentary gas discharges, the whole volume suffused
with a bright glow, and more I'll look at when the water cools. I
used a brandy snifter which supports the bulb nicely in a vertical
position. I ran for a minute with about 50 cc of water in the glass.
In retrospect that should have boiled unless a lot of power was
dissipated in the display.

I have another parlor trick to show my students. Thanks, Chuck. Who
was the contributor at San Antonio?

Leigh