Can Microwaved Water Get Superheated and Explode?

Have you ever heard of superheated water? How about water exploding in people's faces and causing injury? If you're like most people, you've probably never heard of such a thing. I hadn't either, until I received one of those internet chain letter style warnings. You know...the ones that usually turn out to be hoaxes. But for whatever reason, this one caught my attention. Maybe it was due to the fact that I have a 3 month old baby whose bottle I regularly heat up by using a microwave to warm a mug of water and then putting her bottle in the warm water. (side note: NEVER heat a baby bottle in the microwave directly. You can cause serious harm to your baby by doing so.)

Anyway, I don't remember the exact wording of the email warning, but it goes something like this:

A man was heating up a cup of water in his microwave to make some instant coffee. He wanted to get the water boiling so he set the timer on the microwave for a fairly long time. (The email doesn't specify for how long the timer was set). The microwave stops and he opens it to take the cup of water out. When he looks at the water, he notices that it isn't boiling. But as soon as he adds a spoonful of instant coffee into the cup, the water explodes in his face...causing second degree burns and partial loss of eyesight.

The email warning goes on to say that at the hospital the doctor tells the man that you should never heat water in the microwave because this is a fairly common occurrence. The much safer way to heat water is to boil it in a kettle. Then the email, of course, asks you to "Please pass this important information on to your friends and family."

At first glance, this does seem like one of those hoax emails. But like I said, it caught my attention. So I did some research and here is what I found out.

It is actually possible for water to get "superheated" and explode. In fact, you can even see videos of this happening on YouTube. However, this is not a common occurrence as the warning email indicates. Odds are this won't happen to you unless you have several specific conditions in place. Still, it does happen and the precautions for keeping this from happening to you are fairly simple. So it makes sense to heed the warning and follow some simple and easy guidelines to prevent "exploding water."

First of all, don't set the microwave timer for too long. You shouldn't have to microwave your water for any longer than a minute or so for it to get hot. You can try heating a cup of water in 15 second increments until it gets hot. Then next time you'll know how long to microwave your water.

If you are making instant soup, tea, or whatever else, add the item to the cold water before you put it into the microwave to heat it. This will prevent your water from getting superheated. If you just want to have hot water, then put a wooden stir stick or something similar in it before heating it in the microwave. The key here is to put something in the water. But of course, don't use anything metal like a metal spoon or fork.

After the microwave stops, let the water sit for a little while before you take it out. And by all means, don't put your face right over or close to the water. Even if the water doesn't explode, you might burn yourself because of the steam.

Exploding water is something you probably won't ever experience. But it can happen. So be careful. I suppose you could just forego the microwave altogether, but then again, using a stove has its own dangers.

By the way, be sure to pass this article along to all your friends and family!