Is there an inexpensive device for detecting leaks from a microwave oven?

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Is there an inexpensive device for detecting leaks from a microwave oven?

Yes. You can get one from a hardware or appliance store for about $5 to $30. ComfortHouse.com sells one on-line at www.comforthouse.com. While I have tended to downplay the leakage issue in the past, I bought a tester and found that the microwave oven in my laboratory actually leaked significantly. I had used it in many class demonstrations, so it had been abused and the door wasn’t properly aligned any more. I retired it. Incidentally, the tester contains only two components: a fast diode and a current meter. It detects microwave in the same way that a crystal radio detects an AM radio broadcast. However, I should note that both the International Microwave Power Institute (IMPI) and the FDA caution against trusting those simple and not particularly accurate meters, and recommend that you take your microwave oven to a service shop for inspection with an FDA certified meter.

I would like to know a little more about the ac slip ring motor and its uses, pa…

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I would like to know a little more about the ac slip ring motor and its uses, particularly in elevators. – M

A normal induction motor uses a set of stationary electromagnets to produce a magnetic field that seems to rotate rapidly around the motor’s rotating central component—its “rotor.” The rotor consists of a cylindrical aluminum metal cage and the rotating magnetic field causes currents to flow in the cage so that it becomes magnetic. The nature of the magnetism in the rotor causes it to be dragged along with the rotating magnetic fields around it and it begins to turn with those fields. When you first turn on the induction motor, the stationary rotor leaps into rotation as it tries to follow the spinning magnetic fields. That sudden start is acceptable for many applications, but you wouldn’t want it in an elevator—the sudden starting of the elevator car that would accompany the sudden starting of its motor would throw the occupants to the floor. Instead, the aluminum cage in the rotor is replaced by a group of wires that are connected by way of metal ring (the “slip rings”) and some stationary conductive brushes to some components outside the rotor. During the starting process, the currents that are induced in the rotor’s wires are limited by the components outside the rotor. The rotor starts spinning gradually and gracefully. When the rotor has reached full speed, the brushes are retracted from the slip rings and the slip rings are shorted together so that the rotor behaves like the aluminum cage of a normal induction motor.

Why is alternating current better than direct current?

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Why is alternating current better than direct current? — MK, California

The genius of George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla in the late 1800’s was to realize that producing alternating current made it possible to transfer power easily from one electric circuit to another with the help of an electromagnetic device called a transformer. When an alternating electric current passes through the primary wire coil of a transformer, the changing magnetic and electric fields that this current produces transfer power from that primary current to the current passing through another coil of wire—the secondary coil of the transformer. While no electric charges move between these two wires, electric power does. With the help of a transformer, it’s possible for a generating plant to move power from a large current of relatively low energy electric charges—low voltage charges—to a small current of relatively high-energy electric charges—high voltage charges. This small current of high voltage electric charges can move with relatively little power loss through miles and miles of high voltage transmission lines and can go from the generating plant to a distant city without wasting much power. Upon arrival at the city, this current can pass through the primary coil of another transformer and its power can be transferred to a large current of relatively low voltage charges flowing through the secondary coil of that transformer. The latter current can then deliver this electric power to your neighborhood. A transformer can’t transfer power between two circuits if those circuits operate with direct current. Edison tried to use direct current in his power delivery systems and fought Westinghouse and Tesla tooth and nail for years. Edison even invented the electric chair to “prove” that alternating current was much more dangerous than direct current. Still, Westinghouse and Tesla won out in the end because they had the better idea.

I’m doing a science fair project on electricity and I need to know how to make a…

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I’m doing a science fair project on electricity and I need to know how to make a homemade hot dog cooker. – BE

Although I have never done it myself, I understand that it is possible to run electric power directly from the power line through a hot dog and to use the resistive heating that occurs as electric current struggles to pass through the hot dog to cook that hot dog. While I can’t recommend doing this and caution anyone trying it to be extremely careful with the electricity (i.e. seek adult supervision from someone who is experienced with the safe handling of electricity), I believe that it can be done. My understanding is that you should carefully connect each wire of an electric power cord (unplugged!) to its own nail (choose an uncoated steel nail to avoid toxic materials). You should then insert one nails into each end of the hot dog and place that hot dog on a safe, nonconducting surface where no one and nothing can touch it. Finally, you should plug the electric cord into an electric socket that is properly connected to a working circuit breaker. I would recommend using a socket protected by a ground-fault interrupter (GFI) such as are used in modern bathrooms (the ones with a “test” and “reset” button). (As you can see, I don’t want anyone hurt!) I’m not sure how quickly the hot dog will cook, but I’d expect it to be quite fast. Be sure to unplug the cord before getting anywhere near the hot dog.

In the simplest terms, how does a basic electrical circuit work?

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In the simplest terms, how does a basic electrical circuit work? — CC, Port St. Joe, FL

An electric circuit is racetrack for electric charges. It must be a complete loop—a “circuit”—so that the charges don’t pile up somewhere along the track. The simplest circuit has a source of energy for the electric charges (e.g., a battery) and a device that takes energy away from the electric charges (e.g., a light bulb). When the charges are in motion through the circuit, they are an electric current. By convention, current points in the direction of positive charge flow, so you can imagine a stream of positive charges circling this circuit over and over again, with current pointing always in the direction that those positive charges are moving. As the current passes through the battery, entering it at the battery’s negative terminal and leaving it at its positive terminal, the charges pick up energy. The battery is converting some of its stored chemical potential energy into electric energy and giving that energy steadily to the current flowing through it. The battery is “pumping” the charges from its negative terminal to its positive terminal. The current continues around the circuit and then passes through the light bulb. In the light bulb, the charges give up most of their energies to the filament and the filament becomes white hot. The current continues out of the bulb and returns to the negative terminal of the battery to pick up more energy. This simple circuit is present in a flashlight. The same charges complete this circuit millions of times each second, shuttling energy from the battery to the bulb.

Why does popcorn pop? – AB

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Why does popcorn pop? – AB

Inside the hard, dry hull of a popcorn kernel is a portion of moist starch. When you heat the kernel well above the boiling temperature of water, the water in the starch converts to hot, high-pressure steam. The hotter this steam gets, the higher its pressure rises and the stronger the outward forces it exerts on the hull. Eventually, the hull rips open under the stress and exposes the starch to the low-pressure air around it. The pressurized steam then pushes the starch outward, expanding it to many times its original size. The kernel “pops.”

What happens when salt is added to water? If I mix 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of w…

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What happens when salt is added to water? If I mix 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of water, will I end up with 2 cups of solution? – RT

As a crystalline solid, salt consists of a beautiful cubic lattice of sodium atoms that have lost one electron to become sodium positive ions and chlorine atoms that have gained one electron to become chlorine negative ions. The crystal is held together by the attractive forces between these oppositely charged atomic ions. When a salt crystal dissolves in water, it decomposes into individual sodium positive ions and chlorine negative ions that are then carried about by shells of water molecules. Water molecules are electrically polar, meaning that they have positively charged ends and negatively charged ends. The water molecules line up around a positively charged sodium ion with their negatively charged ends inward and carry that ion about. Similarly, water molecules line up around a negatively charged chlorine ion with their positively charged ends inward and carry that ion about. Whether you will end up with 2 cups of solution after mixing 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water depends on how tightly the atoms and molecules pack together in each case. Remember that your 1-cup of salt contains a fair amount of air between the salt grains. You’ll have to try it to find out the answer—I’m not sure what the answer will be.

Can you explain gyroscopic precession?

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Can you explain gyroscopic precession? — BW, Newport, RI

When a gyroscope is spinning rapidly, it has a large amount of a conserved physical quantity called angular momentum. Angular momentum is a special measure of rotational motion that can’t be created or destroyed—it can only be transferred between objects. As long as nothing tries to transfer angular momentum to or from the spinning gyroscope, it will continue to spin at a steady pace about a fixed axis in space. But when an external torque (a twist) is exerted on the gyroscope, a transfer of angular momentum takes place. The gyroscope’s rate of rotation or its axis of rotation begins to change so that its angular momentum changes. If you apply a twist to the gyroscope around its axis of rotation, it will either spin faster or slower, depending on which way you twist it. But if you twist the gyroscope about a different axis, its axis of rotation will shift—the gyroscope will undergo precession. The direction of this precession depends on how you apply the twist and tends to be very non-intuitive.