Scientists have received plasma in microwave oven

It turns out that a microwave oven can be used for scientific experiments. And nothing does not explode!

To obtain a unique state of matter in a simple household appliance, physicists placed there a hermetically sealed vessel with oxygen. The concentration of molecules in the tank was accurately calculated so that the ionized substance did not destroy the walls of the vessel. Due to the use of rarefied gas, plasma can be obtained in just a few minutes – at a lower concentration, the particles of the substance are better “accelerated”.

This plasma can be used to study and change the properties of various substances. For example, polydimethylsiloxane, which in the usual state has hydrophilic (moisture-absorbing) properties, after contact with ionized gas became moisture-repellent – in just a few seconds.

The work of scientists was published in the archive of preprints arXiv.org. Despite the fact that all the experiments were successful, physicists strongly do not recommend repeating the experiments to obtain plasma at home. Yet the microwave is primarily for cooking.