Expert: Henry Boyter - 9/21/2004

Question
how many times have we burnt our popcorn? Many! that's y i want to design a microwave that automatically stops at the first detection of carbon (dioxide), Co2,and other carcinogens. The smoke detector sits in the housing of the microwave between the inner and outer walls, with a little hole in the metal innerchamber wall, millimeters wide, to allow smoke in. anyother suggestions?There are photoelectric and ionic smoke detectors; which one would work with microwave radiation?";  

Answer
There would be no commercial detector that would work.  First CO2 is present all the time and popping will make no real difference in the level.  Any other chemical detections would require special equipment and computer control.  Even if you had that, you would have to calibrate it so it compared chemcial levels and the quality of the popcorn.  This is equivalent to you comparing popping times to the quality of the popcorn.  You learning how to time the popping however will be much, much cheaper.  You also have to worry that not everyone will calibrate to the same popcorn "quality".  My microwave has a "Popcorn" button on it that times it perfectly every time.  You could also look at measuring the heat in the microwave, but again calibration would be required and I'm not sure there will be enough differences to measure.