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Title: Physicist Debunks Cellphone Popcorn Viral Videos
Source:
Wired.com
URL Source: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/cellphones-cant.html
Published: Jun 11, 2008
Author: Jenna Wortham
Post Date: 2008-06-11 00:02:29 by Indrid Cold
Keywords: None
Views: 460
Comments: 27
YouTube videos that show a group of friends apparently cooking kernels of popcorn with their cellphones have been viewed more than a million times since they were uploaded last week. The clever parlor trick (see embedded clip) looks amazing enough, but there's a hitch: It's not physically possible, according to University of Virginia physics professor Louis Bloomfield. "[The videos] are cute," said Bloomfield in a phone conversation Monday. "But that's never gonna happen." In a microwave oven, energy excites the water inside popcorn kernels until it turns into highly pressurized gas, causing the kernels to pop. If mobile phones emitted that much energy, the water in the fingers of people holding them would heat up. "It would hurt like crazy," Bloomfield said. "Cellphones probably warm your tissues, but studies indicate that's not injurious." Bloomfield, author of How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary, dismissed theories bubbling up in comment threads about the videos that suggest harmonious vibrations are heating the corn. "Ringing the phones doesn't help because they're interfering with each other and receiving a signal [from a cellphone tower] -- not transmitting it," he said. Furthermore, while it is possible to heat with sound, it's not likely to happen at the low volume emitted by a mobile phone. "It would be like gathering opera singers together to sing, and trying to make the corn pop," Bloomfield said. So, what's really causing the kernels to ricochet off the table in the YouTube clips? Bloomfield suggests tricky video editing or even a covert heating element beneath the table. Debunker website Snopes.com also points out that cooking popcorn with cellphones is impossible (same goes for eggs). The popcorn videos, like the slew of YouTube clips showcasing ordinary people performing extraordinary feats that came before them, has the distinct markings of a viral-marketing campaign. Let's look at the facts. First, all four videos -- French, Japanese and two American editions -- were posted to the YouTube accounts of users bobtel08 and benzin513 (with French descriptions) within several days of one another. Second, a cryptic bit of commentary posted alongside one of the videos says: "We tried but didn't make it ... maybe only with phone brands or models???" It could be a subtle hint to get viewers to notice the phones more than the stunt. And, indeed, several comments have suggested the phones all appear to be similar makes and models, possibly Nokias or Sony Ericsson mobiles. For now, however, the clandestine origin of the videos is under wraps. Bobtel08, benzin513 and Nokia did not immediately respond to Wired.com's requests for comment, and a representative from Sony Ericsson North America said he wasn't aware of the videos at all.
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#1. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
good find, IC. whew, now i don't have to worry quite so much about my cell phone usage.
That was quite an eye opener. If it was fake or real, the truth will come out quite soon.
The evidence that cell phones held to your head are bad for you is pretty hard to ignore right now. Too many new cases of brain cancer precisely where frequent users of cell phones hold their phone to their head can't be ignored any longer. Many neurosurgeons have admitted they do not ever hold cell phones next to their own heads and advise people against it.
God is always good!
I've also read a study that suggested cell phones were associated with lower sperm counts in males - males typically carry cell phones in their pockets - I guess in some cases, low sperm counts are welcomed ( eg. sexually active teenage males)
Only the dumb ones do with it on. I do sometimes, but it is turned off. I suppose we really don't need the dumb ones reproducing anyway.
God is always good!
Well it should be easy enough to prove with any group of four cellphones. Besides, there's at least three such videos from around the world, so it's a bit improbable that they all colluded to pull a fast one. Also, there is nothing that can heat popcorn on top of the table without burning the table except for microwave energy or high powered lasers dangling overhead, IF it is guided with a precision mechanism that can provide pinpoint accuracy for a brief burst of high power infrared laser energy onto each kernal of popcorn, sort of like Star Wars. As far as cellphones giving off energy, they do signal back to the tower that they are active and ringing, so this "expert" is either really stupid or lying. Taking Occam's Razor into account, I'd believe the cellphone story before I believe the rather lame attempt to debunk it.
i would think that this will induce attempts to repeat the same experiment. i hope it does because now i don't know which to believe.
I am going to try it out soon. The only way to know for sure is to try it. I suspect it won't work.
God is always good!
It's very suspicious that all but one of the videos come from the same person. There's a fifth one where it doesn't work, "verification" is in the title of that video. I still think it's real for a number of reasons, one of them being the difficulty of faking it. Someone put an incredible amount of effort or resources into faking it, if it's fake.
I think snopes has had a collective brain embolism or two, but what do I know. Not people who waste words beating about the bushes.
Someone is saying it was done by some big-time marketing campaign. That's possible. Doesn't mean the phones are safe, though.
Well that's a load of crap. The first two in the list below were posted by the same person (but he claims one came from an Italian friend yet is an American version). The rest are all from different people; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcLS2WJERQ0 Try it yourself Chris. Find at least 2 other friends with cellphones (I've seen it done with only three phones together, and even one by itself) and place your unpopped kernels in the middle like in the video. I think they may have used call forwarding from one cell phone to the other in order to get all the phones to ring together. So you'd forward the call from the first to the second and from the second to the third, etc. Then dial that first phone from a landline or another cellphone and it'll forward the call to the others. That would in fact cause all the phones to transmit, contrary to what the supposed expert had to say about it.
I bet the "debunker" is on the payroll of the telecom industry or owes someone a "favor"..
I wouldn't be surprised.
I wonder how much money megacorps like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. would lose if everyone across the planet all of a sudden stopped using cellphones except for extreme emergencies?
They would most likely go bankrupt.
Ah hah! From Lou Bloomfield's Personal Home Page You'd think he'd know a few things about cellphones, such as the fact that they DO transmit a signal when being called as they need to not only acknowledge to the tower that they are active, but that they are ringing. You'd also probably conclude that he should be intelligent enough to know that the cellphones can be set to forward their calls which will in fact cause them to signal the call to the tower in order to forward the call.
Oops, misspelled your name on the "To" line in the above post. I sometimes jumble letters around when I try to type too fast without looking..
So it doesn't seem too far-fetched that they'd at least TRY to debunk these videos if they are in fact real.
I knew there were some duplicates he didn't mention. Only the second-to-last one (7um3tvC7oZg) is new to me.
The new poster there is actually taking suggestions and making new video(s):
This is apparently the first popcorn-cellphone video by spambutcher, who always only uses one phone, it's quite convincing:
He's using a carbon rod in the first video you posted and a metalic tray of some type in the second. Both materials interact with electromagnetic energy differently than non-conductive materials such as a dry table top, so he's cheating a bit. Still shows how the amount of energy delivered by a cell phone is substantial in that it can cook a close object, but these videos may be used to debunk ALL of the other related videos that don't rely on conductive surfaces for their demonstration simply by using these as "proof" that it's all just a gimmick.
Maybe he's got a hot air solder-reworking tip pointed at the corn, but I can't hear anything like that. The other videos are apparently made for some nimrod ad campaign.
... after he was asked to use a wooden stick.
#2. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
#3. To: christine (#2)
#4. To: Pinguinite (#3)
That was quite an eye opener. If it was fake or real, the truth will come out quite soon.
#5. To: RickyJ, Pinguinite, christine (#4)
Too many new cases of brain cancer precisely where frequent users of cell phones hold their phone to their head can't be ignored any longer. Many neurosurgeons have admitted they do not ever hold cell phones next to their own heads and advise people against it.
#6. To: scrapper2 (#5)
males typically carry cell phones in their pockets
#7. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
(Edited)
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#8. To: FormerLurker (#7)
Taking Occam's Razor into account, I'd believe the cellphone story before I believe the rather lame attempt to debunk it.
#9. To: christine (#8)
i would think that this will induce attempts to repeat the same experiment. i hope it does because now i don't know which to believe.
#10. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
(Edited)
So, what's really causing the kernels to ricochet off the table in the YouTube clips? Bloomfield suggests tricky video editing or even a covert heating element beneath the table. Debunker website Snopes.com also points out that cooking popcorn with cellphones is impossible (same goes for eggs).
#11. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
(Edited)
Snopes.com also points out that cooking popcorn with cellphones is impossible
#12. To: Indrid Cold (#0)
#13. To: nobody (#10)
It's very suspicious that all but one of the videos come from the same person. There's a fifth one where it doesn't work, "verification" is in the title of that video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPf8dXsZ1PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_dyD0Nsjw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7um3tvC7oZg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4VwKHrit6s
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#14. To: christine (#8)
(Edited)
i would think that this will induce attempts to repeat the same experiment. i hope it does because now i don't know which to believe.
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#15. To: RickyJ (#4)
The evidence that cell phones held to your head are bad for you is pretty hard to ignore right now. Too many new cases of brain cancer precisely where frequent users of cell phones hold their phone to their head can't be ignored any longer. Many neurosurgeons have admitted they do not ever hold cell phones next to their own heads and advise people against it.
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#16. To: FormerLurker (#15)
I bet the "debunker" is on the payroll of the telecom industry or owes someone a "favor"..
#17. To: TwentyTwelve (#16)
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#18. To: FormerLurker (#17)
I wonder how much money megacorps like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. would lose if everyone across the planet all of a sudden stopped using cellphones except for extreme emergencies?
#19. To: TwentyTwelve, chrisinte, RickyJ, Indrid Cold, nobody, scrapper2, Pinguinite (#16)
Louis A. Bloomfield is Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1983 and was a postdoctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Laboratories before arriving at the University of Virginia in 1985.
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#20. To: christine (#19)
(Edited)
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#21. To: TwentyTwelve (#18)
They would most likely go bankrupt.
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#22. To: FormerLurker (#13)
Well that's a load of crap.
#23. To: FormerLurker (#13)
#24. To: FormerLurker (#21)
#25. To: nobody (#24)
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#26. To: FormerLurker (#25)
#27. To: FormerLurker (#25)
He's using a carbon rod
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