gary@percival.UUCP (Gary Wells) (04/23/89)
In article <2160@uswat.UUCP> timw@zeb.USWest.COM () writes: >Tell me. Can a microwave oven be used to sterilize glass ? > I'm no expert, but my guess is no, at least not in the sense that "sterilize" (ie: totally devoid of germs) is meant. Microwave ovens work by inparting motion (by collision of microwave packets) to the water molecules in the target substance (generally food). This is why the coffee gets warmer, but the cup doesn't (assuming, of course, that the cup is not in physical contact with the coffee, thus preventing heat transfer :-)) There aren't many water molecules in glass, so there shouldn't be much warming of the sample. As for the little beasties you are trying to get rid of...maybe.If they got hit by the microwaves, yeah, maybe they'd boil and thus destroy themselves. But, being small, would they surely get hit? Why, don't you trust the person you're sharing your cups with? :-) -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still working on _natural_ intelligence. gary@percival (...!tektronix!percival!gary)