December 26th, 2007, 11:23 PM
Today I wondered how decaf coffee actually became decaf.
Found out there are a few ways to go about doing it.
Some processes use synthetic solvents (forget the name, but found in some fruit naturally)
and I wanted to ask you all if you think it's safe to drink that stuff.
I found it rather odd but I don't know a whole lot about chemistry.
I know Starbucks uses methylene chloride to make their coffee decaf. The amount left over is limited by the FDA to a small number of ppm. So, even though that stuff is pretty harsh, in such low doses you're more likely to get cancer from standing next to your microwave.
I know this is totally off topic....
but what kind of effects does a microwave have on a human head when standing 1ft away from it?
Has anyone ever conducted a study?
I can't remember if I did or notOriginally Posted by dimethyltryptamine
1ft away and the energy beaming from the Microwave would most likely cook you if you stand there for over 5 minutes. I heard a story once from a relatvive who worked in a place where microwaves were tested years ago and the door was open, or it was leaking. The guy's liver was cooked as it was at just above waist level. He was stood in front of it for 5 minutes. He had a liver transplant though I think, I can't remember that much about the story. But standing next to an activated microwave with the door open is not wise, even to test. It could cause mutations in cells due to some kind of photonic interuption or something.
Next to the head? Cooked.
I don't think a non-operating microwave poses any sort of danger, but being exposed to microwave radiation from 1 foot away would definitely cook you...literally.
does the door on the microwave oven do it any justice?
This is from Scientific American, (October 2002).
I hope this answers to your question, since it was a hell of a job to write this thing with my ultra slow writing speed.
There are currently three main processes, all of with beging with moistening the green or roasted beans to make the caffeine soluble. Decaffeination is typically carried out at 70 to 100 degrees Celcius.
In the first method, called water processing, the moistened coffee beans are soaked in a mixture of water and green-coffee extract that has previously been caffeine-reduced. Osmosis draws the caffeine from the highly caffeine-concentrated beans into the less caffeine-concentrated solution. Afterward, the decaffeinated beans are rinsed and dried. The extracted caffeine-rich solution is passed through a bed of charcoal that has been pretreated with a carbohydrate. The carbohydrate blocks sites in the charcoal that would otherwise absorb sugars and additional compounds that contribute to the coffee's flavour but permits the absorbtion of caffeine. The caffeine-reduced solution, which still contains compounds that augment the taste and aroma, can then be infuced into the beans. The water processing is natural, in that it does not employ any harmful chemicals, but it's not very specific for caffeine, extracting some non-caffeine solids and reducing flavor. It eliminates 94 to 96 percent of the caffeine.
An alternative method extracts caffeine with a chemical solvent. The liquid solvent is circulated through a bed of moist, green coffee beand, removing the caffeine. The solvent is recaptured in an evaporator, and the beans are washed with water. Finally, the beans are streamed to remove chemical residues. Solvents, such as methylene chloride, are more specific for caffeine than charcoal is, extracting 96 to 97 percent of the caffeine and leaving behind nearly all the noncaffeine solids.
In the third approach, carbon dioxide is circulated through the beans in drums operating at roughly 250 to 300 times atmospheric pressure. At these pressures, carbon dioxide takes on unique supercritical properties, having a density similar to that of a liquid but with the diffusivity of a gas, allowing it to penetrate the beans and dissolve the caffeine. These attributes also significantly lower the pumping costs of carbon dioxide. The caffeine-rich carbon dioxide exiting the extraction vessel is channeled through charcoal or water to absorb the caffeine and is then returned to the extraction vessel. Carbon dioxide is popular because it has relatively low pressure critical point, it is non-toxic, and it is naturally abundant. Supercritical carbon dioxide is more expensive, but it extracts 96 to 98 percent of the caffeine.
There is a metallic net inside of the glass in the oven's door. The wawelenght of microwawes is bigger than the holes in the net, so microwawes can't penetrate the door.
Can you explain that using the Quantum model?There is a metallic net inside of the glass in the oven's door. The wawelenght of microwawes is bigger than the holes in the net, so microwawes can't penetrate the door..
The quantum model? WHAT?Can you explain that using the Quantum model?There is a metallic net inside of the glass in the oven's door. The wawelenght of microwawes is bigger than the holes in the net, so microwawes can't penetrate the door.
You said wavelength. As in waves and not particles like photons. I was joking, I haven't even a clue how the partical duality argument proves how in this situation that microwave doors keep the 'waves' contained. :P
Ah, decaf...another German invention...
Of course it's not safe to drink decaf! Are you crazy? If you fall below your hyper-alert threshold you'll die! You might even be subjected to random periods of sleep! And then all hell breaks loose!
Best stimulant? Water Water Water. Trust me. I'm a doctor.
Pretty much just stimulates me to take a wiz. I hate water, it's disgusting. I know I should drink more of it, but I don't. I have to have something in it, be it tea, coffee, lemonade, Coke, Pepsi, hops, whatever...
Ah, like the late, great W C Fields who once, allegedly, was offered water by his hostess, to which his magnificent comeback was:
"Water? I never touch the stuff: fish fuck in it!"
Are you saying microwaves cookers are dangerous?
In the mornings i sometimes let my coffee go cold and warm it up and stand next the microwave.
Am i damaging my health?
And what's the point in drinking coffee if you don't get a buzz?
E = mc+coffee2
NOOOOOO!
Microwawes aren't dangerous. The oven doesn't let the wawes out. And those wawes don't ionize your coffee, even though it is electromagnetic radiation.
Those wawes are big and harmless. Unless you're in the oven.
There are many microwawes coming from the space, striking you right now, and none of you haven't even noticed that effect, so IT IS NOT DANGEROUS!
Right now i am confused, probably because this is something i know nuffing about!
I am wondering why they are called 'micro' waves if they are so big. I thought micro meant small!
Ok.....i will go and do some research................
Microwave in the true sense refers to the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. Microwaves cover wavelengths in the order of centimeters and millimeters, at 2.4Ghz its 12.5cm
The gent who invented the microwave oven did not count on people shortening 'Microwave oven' to microwave. He should have called it by it's correct name "Freqency Emitting Electromagnetic Dispensing Molecular Exciter"
Yea, my chips have gone cold, put them in the, what? Exciter.
I wonder who will be the first person to actually understand what I wrote?
Good gosh now MB you are really turning me on with all that talk, i think i understood you perfectly, when and where shall we meet?
Seriously
Thank you for the info....i was getting a bit concerned and was putting up with cold coffee!
Now i know i can re-heat safely.
I did put a whole egg in one accidently, i thought i might have a hard boiled egg, hah i was wrong!
We learn by our mistakes sometimes with egg on our faces
Put the egg in a plastic baggie next time. It'll be green, and you'll have to puck out shells. It doesn't taste bad though. It's best though cracked in a cup with a paper towel over it. Trust me. It's so much faster. They're great in sandwiches.
Green????
I can't eat a green egg! That's like eating blue chips (reminds me of when they did that once on Blue Peter, does anyone remember? And when they made tomato ketchup green!)
Yuck and all that fiddling about with bags and picking shells?
Bugger it i'll stick it in a pan of water it's much easier and it's put humidity in the air in a dry centrally heated atmosphere!
MB i think you mean that the molecules, due to the change in their frequency and held by the electromagnetic field, get all excited and vibrate together very rapidly which produces energy by the way of heat and that's what cooks my food?
Am i right?....I'm probably wrong.....i am guessing this without rushing off to a wikki for a change
I'm pretty sure it's mostly watter and fat molecules that are exited by the radiation...
The answer is in the initials...... F.E.E.D M.E But it was clearly wasted on you lot....
Electromagnetic waves pound the water molecules making them vibrate and generate heat which then does the biz.
Isn't that what I just said?
maybe but your post was not there when I initially began to compose my reply, which was interrupted by my grandson popping in on his way home from school.
Acknowledgment WIki.A microwave oven works by passing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2450 MHz (a wavelength of 12.24 cm), through the food. Water, fat, and sugar molecules in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam in a process called dielectric heating. Many molecules (such as those of water) are electric dipoles, meaning that they have a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, and therefore rotate as they try to align themselves with the alternating electric field induced by the microwave beam. This molecular movement creates heat as the rotating molecules hit other molecules and put them into motion. Microwave heating is most efficient on liquid water, and much less so on fats and sugars (which have less molecular dipole moment), and frozen water (where the molecules are not free to rotate). Microwave heating is sometimes incorrectly explained as a rotational resonance of water molecules: such resonance only occurs at much higher frequencies, in the tens of gigahertz. Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating in the 900 MHz range also heat water and food perfectly well.
Oh...sorry. That reminds me of our time differences. I just finished breakfast, and your grandson popped in from school.
On new years, some of my friends decided to celebrate the new year once for every timezone. That was the most drunk I've ever seen them.
I knew it! I knew you were an older man! 10 POINTS!
That's what i said!The answer is in the initials...... F.E.E.D M.E But it was clearly wasted on you lot....
Electromagnetic waves pound the water molecules making them vibrate and generate heat which then does the biz.
I quote.............
'MB i think you mean that the molecules, due to the change in their frequency and held by the electromagnetic field, get all excited and vibrate together very rapidly which produces energy by the way of heat and that's what cooks my food?'
Which is exactly what you just said! And you said we get it wrong
AaAAaGH!
More please.....
| « The science of carnauba waxes ? | Organic chemistry problems » |
| Bookmarks |
Bookmarks |
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
