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I grew up using a microwave on a daily basis. Half of what I ate in high school was something I took out of the freezer and popped into the microwave.
As an adult, I began cooking my own food, but I continued to rely on a microwave to re-heat the food for a second or third meal.
Not too long ago, I started hearing some things about how using a microwave isn’t good for you.
As a scientist, I wanted to put this to the test to see for myself.
So I purchased two plants and decided to water one plant with water that had been heated to boiling on the stove and another plant that had been heated to boiling in the microwave. In both cases, I let the water cool down to room temperature before giving it to the plants.
Note: Find more science experiments on my Science Activities for Kids page!
The two plants I used were purchased at the same time from our local hardware store. Both plants were approximately the same size and had a similar number of purple blooms on them. Both plants sat right next to each other in a sunny spot on our front porch.
I watered the plants almost every day (the almost will become relevant later in this post), always with the same amount water. The only difference is that one plant received water that had been heating to boiling on a stove (i.e. “stove-boiled water”) and one received water than had been microwaved to boiling (i.e., “microwave-boiled water”). Note that I always let the water cool down to room temperature before giving it to the plants.
After 11 days, there was already a very big difference in the health of the plants.
While the plant provided with stove-boiled water grew and thrived, the plant given microwave-boiled water had turned very dry and lacked the beautiful purple blooms of the other plant.
So it looked like giving the plant microwave-boiled water had definitely lead to its demise, but I wanted to run the experiment again to see if I would get similar results.
I purchased two more plants, this time Calibrachoa plants with yellow flowers. As before, the plants sat together on our sunny front porch and I watered them every day with equal amounts of water.
This continued for about three weeks, and I got discouraged as the plants were both thriving and doing well. I thought maybe the results from the first experiment had been a fluke.
Then after diligently watering the plants every day, there was one really hot day that I forgot to water them.
I went out the next morning and found that both were wilting from the hot temperatures. But it was also clear the the plant given stove-boiled water had fared much better than the plant given microwave-boiled water.
Looking back, I realized there were days during the first experiment with the purple flowered plants when I had forgotten to water them as well, which may have contributed to the quick differences I saw in their overall health. I was so diligent about watering the plants on a daily basis the second time that it obscured the developing health issues that were occurring in the microwave-boiled water plant.
What I concluded from this experiment is that both stove-boiled and microwave-boiled water would help the plants do well under optimal conditions. But as soon as the plants were stressed (such as from a hot day with no water), the plants given microwave-boiled water proved to be much more vulnerable than the plants given stove-boiled water.
This experiment has convinced our family of the need to give up our microwave. Something about using a microwave is changing the water in a way that does not promote optimal health and vitality.
What do you think?
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Thank you for doing this experiment pertaining to “the microwave.” I too was a microwaver since my teens and can relate to you on this.. For the last four years we have not used a microwave, since we feel that it isn’t healthy to use. My two sons (1 yr and a 3 yr old) have never experienced having anything microwaved. You now have encouraged me to perform this experiment and when I complete it, I will let you know the results.
Yes, please do let me know what your results are!
This is an eye opener. My microwave is out of order and I’m not going to fix it.
The radiation is not good for our health.
Although it seems to be an easy option, with a little effort of alternative cooking and reheating methods, we can take care of our health.
It was hard for me at first to give up the microwave because it was such a quick and convenient option. But now we have new routines and I don’t even think about the microwave anymore.
Does it have similar affect if we use induction cookware.
I have no idea but it would make for an interesting experiment you could do!
Weird, I’d always suspected microwaving (and other EMFs in general, including the incoming hordes of 5G antennas) weren’t good for health. But I saw a video where Neil deGrasse Tyson was saying that all the microwaves do is cause the water molecules to vibrate enough just so heat is created, so really it was just like friction producing heat and nothing to worry about. I’d be really interested to see some large-scale attempts at reproducing this experiment. Anyway, thank you for this awesome website–it’s made for a lot of fun afternoons with my nephew!
Jon, if there is one thing you can be sure of is that you cannot trust anything Neil DeGrasse Tyson says.
He is an misinformation actor. Not a real scientist.
get an emf reader and hold it to your cup of water after you heat it in the microwave….
It’s insane how much radiation is in your water and we drink that. <3
Curious….One question that came to mind while reading this was: what did you heat up the water in when using the microwave? A plastic or glass container?
I microwaved the water in a glass.
Mini years ago I told one of my sons about this so he decided to try in the same experiment by germinating seeds for his school science project. None of the seeds given the previously heated microwave water germinated.
So I am doing this experiment for my Science Fair Project! I will be doing a fresh watered plant, 1 minute microwaved water plant, and a 5 minute microwaved water plant. My questions is how much water did you feed your plants? I have some mums so it might be different.
The exact amount of water I gave my plants is less important than the fact that both plants got the same amount. You may need to adjust the amount of water you give depending on how thirsty your plant is. For example, on hotter days my plants would dry out faster so I would give more water. On cooler days I could give less water. As long as you give both plants the same amount of water, you will maintain an appropriate control.
I am glad you are doing this for your science experiment. Be sure to note my conclusion that the plants both did equally well when given enough water, but the plant receiving boiled water did much better when the plants were stressed.
Of course I cannot say if you will get similar results, but if your plants all seem to be growing the same you may need to stress them out to see a difference.
I saw this experiment done by someone in a healthy living capacity. It has always stuck with me and today, years later, I remembered to google it. Your video came up and addressed all the points! I was anti microwave for a very long time and have started using one at work. No more! Bad enough I sleep near my cell phone and wear my apple watch, I think it is wise to be cautious how much radiation we are exposed to. Thank you for putting this experiment out there!