A youtube video purports to show popcorn popping when placed in between cell phones all ringing at once.
Clearly fake. It's a new spin on the old joke about cooking an egg with two cell phones. The only question is how they got the popcorn to pop. My guess is there must be a heating element beneath the table.
The tablecloth could be made from fireproof material so the heating element underneath wouldn't catch it on fire. But my initial reaction was they made a microwave gun with the magnetron from an old microwave.
Posted by Crazy Ivan on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:19 PM
All you need is a heat gun. As long as the temp's around 180 degrees Celsius, it won't hurt the cloth, but it'll pop the corn.
If you notice, the corn all jumps mainly in one direction, just like you'd expect from a heat gun.
Posted by Captain DaFt on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 12:13 AM
No magnetron gun (the waves are not unidirectional and have a tendency to bounce around so they would have end up in the hospital or grave; not to mention the electrocution risk; also the electromagnetic field would have spoil the video recording). Besides there are many safer and simpler ways to do a trick like this.
I go for the theory of the heat gun or heating element under the table or out of the camera's field of view.
Posted by Adam on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 12:33 AM
hmm, I dunno if you'd need any heating or popping at all to do this. with the only modest quality and the hokey "blair witch project" camera work it looks to me like an even modestly skilled video editor could fake this.
perhaps Captain Disillusion will debunk this one next (a la the penguin slap or other debunks he did, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query="Captain+Disillusion"&search;_type= )
Posted by joel on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 11:27 AM
oops, that link got screwed up, but if you search youtube for "Captain Disillusion" you'll get about 10 of his debunks, all excellent
Posted by joel on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 11:31 AM
seems to be a japanese table with a heating element.. note that all these videos the table has a table cloth, how many people do you know with table cloths on their coffee tables? also note in all these videos the kernals are always already their, so its a matter of timing...
on a side note, is that Mark Wahlberg??
Posted by Crazygut on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 04:44 PM
The two give aways that the video is a hoax are the tablecloth, already mentioned, and because a ringing phone is receiving not transmitting.
It would be more convincing to call out on the three phones, so they would seem to be transmitting.
I'm confident that there is a heat source under the
table, hidden by the tablecloth.
I'm sure I could recreate the hoax and not scorch the tablecloth. but I would have my phones calling out.
Posted by little f on Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 09:33 PM
I found out it that the orginial video is from a company called.
CardoWireless they have a video on Youtube. They sell bluetooth products.
Posted by jackie kim on Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 12:57 PM
It would be easy enough for a group of people to test though, correct? I'm amazed that with 4 cell phones on the table, that there's 4 additional phones available to call the testing phones.
I don't think there's a heating element under the table, as some of the other vids do not always have a tablecloth.
Posted by John on Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 01:01 PM
The link to <a >Cardo Systems</a>.
Posted by Charybdis on Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Did anyone else notice the creases in the tablecloth? Like maybe there is something under it that isn't flat? I noticed it in the initial zoom. I also wonder about the jerking around of the camera. My vote - fake.
Posted by Christopher Cole on Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Comments
If you notice, the corn all jumps mainly in one direction, just like you'd expect from a heat gun.
I go for the theory of the heat gun or heating element under the table or out of the camera's field of view.
perhaps Captain Disillusion will debunk this one next (a la the penguin slap or other debunks he did, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query="Captain+Disillusion"&search;_type= )
on a side note, is that Mark Wahlberg??
It would be more convincing to call out on the three phones, so they would seem to be transmitting.
I'm confident that there is a heat source under the
table, hidden by the tablecloth.
I'm sure I could recreate the hoax and not scorch the tablecloth. but I would have my phones calling out.
CardoWireless they have a video on Youtube. They sell bluetooth products.
I don't think there's a heating element under the table, as some of the other vids do not always have a tablecloth.