Microwaves do not cause cancer

Microwaves do not cause cancer.

Microwave ovens are able to cook food because they deliver so much energy via microwaves that the molecules of the food vibrate, producing heat. Standing right next to an old microwave oven is "only" dangerous because the microwaves could burn you. Temperature changes in certain parts of the body can lead to problems (like temporary infertility), but not cancer.

The only kinds of electromagnetic radiation that cause cancer are the ionizing ones, like gamma rays. Fortunately, microwaves are not ionizing - not even close. Normal visible light is closer to gamma rays on the EM spectrum than microwaves are. Similarly, the electric field from power lines is non-ionizing, and so cannot cause cancer.

"Let's see some reliable sources!" Sure:

• Microwaves, Radio Waves, and Other Types of Radiofrequency Radiation from the American Cancer Society
• Power Lines, Electrical Devices and Extremely Low Frequency Radiation likewise
• Cell Phones and Cancer Risk from the National Cancer Institute
• Electromagnetic Fields and Cancer likewise

Note that studies are still going on; there is yet some uncertainty. So far, the evidence for a causal relationship between microwaves/phones and cancer is not there.

Chocolate fountains require a good deal of work

My class planned/hosted the school prom this year, and we decided to get a chocolate fountain. That was all well and good in the beginning - it was assembled easily and started working, just as expected. 

The problems appeared at teardown time. You see, the largest dish of the fountain was fixed to the main part. Therefore, the only way to remove the chocolate from it was to very carefully place the whole assembly in a sink and direct the water to avoid the electrical parts.

Even after twenty of fiddling around, the device is still not completely chocolate-free, and will probably need to be left with water in the bowl to get the last pieces off.

What is the volume of a 2-liter bottle?

Many math courses provide a few helpful formulas that may be used on tests on a formula sheet. A certain online course provider's sheet includes an interesting "formula" after some common geometric ones:

Volume of a 2-liter bottle: 2 liters

I find it difficult to imagine the circumstances that led up to that being added to the sheet. Surely it couldn't have been there from the start - I hope the test writers had faith that their students would be able to determine the volume of a 2-liter bottle from the "2-liter" part. Though, in two years of mathematics through that provider, I never once was asked a question involving a 2-liter bottle, so maybe there was a confusing question that was retired.

Interestingly, "what is the volume of a 2 liter bottle" does get auto-completed in the Google Chrome search bar after I type the 2. In the results, Google renders in bold both "2 liters" and "500 milliliters."