Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Microwave Art


Glass plate aged for 20 years, loaded with leftover refrigerated lasagna, covered with a paper towel, and microwaved on high for 2 minutes in a 2005 GE Spacesaver.

The heat expansion of the glass was slowed by the cold lasagna, causing the outside of the plate to expand faster and separate from the colder center of the plate. The paper towel placed over the lasagna had a slight roll - two opposite sides of the paper towel touched the plate so as to hold in the heat and vapor while the other two sides were curled such as to allow heat and vapor to escape. The diagonal break followed the center line of the open ends of the paper towel.

What happened to the lasagna? After reassembling the broken pieces of the plate to confirm that there were no missing shards of glass, I ate it.

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