Well, my old CRT monitor literally burst into flames a few months ago (mostly smoke, but there was some fire), so I suppose I could've made Jiffy Pop on that.
I put my kernels in a brown paper lunch bag and microwave 2 minutes. Air popped Styrofoam. You can always add some melted butter if you care to fatten it up. Way better than the pre-bagged microwave stuff with the glowing yellow whatever-it-is on it.
The lights being used are 2.8 volt .3 amp. USB ports put out a regulated 5 volts. If the lights are run in series, total volts they "could" suck would be 5.6 volts (2.8 x 2). The amps however would stay at .3 amps. This is due to the wiring in series which if you look real close at the hook up connections, is evident.
.3 amp is under the .5 amp Hale-Bopp has pointed out to us, so it is possible...
Huck, the USB port could power the lights...they even make portable reading lights that connect to USB ports. The problem is with using it to pop popcorn.
Here are the numbers...assume a 10g kernel of popcorn that is 10% water (that's a little low, but makes the math easy). So 1gram of water per kernel needs to be heated from 20C (room temp) to 100C and then boil to pop the kernel. The heat capacity of water is 4.18J/gC so that takes 334J+2260J (2260J/g is the heat of fusion of water) for a grand total of 2594J. A power of 2.5W takes over 1000 seconds to deliver that much energy...and that assumes 100% of the energy goes into the kernel (which we also know is false) and it would take over 17 minutes to pop ONE kernel...and every approximation I made underestimated the time (that is so long, I bet we would have to start taking cooling rates into effect as the kernel got warmer which would make it longer still.)
So while you could light the lights, you definitely could not use them to pop popcorn using a USB power supply! How's that for late night geeky caclulations!
Hale-Bopp I know your math explains it well, but you must be overlooking something. I see popcorn popping. It could be there is a different power source or heating element in the shot, but there is popcorn popping when he puts the glass jar on as a lid.
Now I'm going to have to go find the stuff to do this and debunk it.
Cute, but I am calling BS (although you probably suspect as much and may even be posting this just to razz me :)
ReplyDeleteA USB 2.0 port has a max current of 500mA (.5A) at 5V. Power = IV so the max power of a USB port is a measly 2.5 Watts!
Well, my old CRT monitor literally burst into flames a few months ago (mostly smoke, but there was some fire), so I suppose I could've made Jiffy Pop on that.
ReplyDeletetoo funny, looks like a get-together experiment for fun :)
ReplyDeleteHale, how's April looking??
I put my kernels in a brown paper lunch bag and microwave 2 minutes. Air popped Styrofoam. You can always add some melted butter if you care to fatten it up. Way better than the pre-bagged microwave stuff with the glowing yellow whatever-it-is on it.
ReplyDeleteI prefer popcorn the old fashioned way.. made on the stove in a big kettle. :)
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Hale-Bopp. My reasoning:
ReplyDeleteThe lights being used are 2.8 volt .3 amp. USB ports put out a regulated 5 volts. If the lights are run in series, total volts they "could" suck would be 5.6 volts (2.8 x 2). The amps however would stay at .3 amps. This is due to the wiring in series which if you look real close at the hook up connections, is evident.
.3 amp is under the .5 amp Hale-Bopp has pointed out to us, so it is possible...
Huck, the USB port could power the lights...they even make portable reading lights that connect to USB ports. The problem is with using it to pop popcorn.
ReplyDeleteHere are the numbers...assume a 10g kernel of popcorn that is 10% water (that's a little low, but makes the math easy). So 1gram of water per kernel needs to be heated from 20C (room temp) to 100C and then boil to pop the kernel. The heat capacity of water is 4.18J/gC so that takes 334J+2260J (2260J/g is the heat of fusion of water) for a grand total of 2594J. A power of 2.5W takes over 1000 seconds to deliver that much energy...and that assumes 100% of the energy goes into the kernel (which we also know is false) and it would take over 17 minutes to pop ONE kernel...and every approximation I made underestimated the time (that is so long, I bet we would have to start taking cooling rates into effect as the kernel got warmer which would make it longer still.)
So while you could light the lights, you definitely could not use them to pop popcorn using a USB power supply! How's that for late night geeky caclulations!
You geeky guys are making my head hurt! DA and I could just build a fire for you and get some jiffy pop? :)
ReplyDeleteHale-Bopp I know your math explains it well, but you must be overlooking something. I see popcorn popping. It could be there is a different power source or heating element in the shot, but there is popcorn popping when he puts the glass jar on as a lid.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm going to have to go find the stuff to do this and debunk it.