Let's be real. I'm mostly referring to distilled water and clean smooth surfaces. If this were a huge risk - we would hear about microwave accidents on the news "all the time." But I got to thinking about it - primer reloaders "the new guys" purchase new beakers sets and we encourage you to only use "distilled water" for labs. Perhaps pre-heating the distilled water for "the lab" using a microwave oven may sound like a good idea. ### But did you know? ### Can Microwaving Water be Hazardous? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xn_1Ldf4WR4 ### Tap Water has Impurities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OXM4mr_i0 ### Solution: Use a Boiling Chip. Boiling chips don't need to be purchased. Home chemists routinely use a piece from a broken beaker. The surfaces on broken edges are enough to allow "nucleation". Essentially a location for the liquid to transform into a gas (i.e. bubbles). Boiling chips can be easily "fished out" from a lab, and discarded with impunity because they are inexpensive/free. Food or particles in the water ('say' coffee grounds added to the water prior to heating) function as "boiling chips". The surface(s) of a boiling chip must be somewhat rough - so selection of a smooth glass marble (for the chip) is a poor choice. --- Viking Boiling chips are never to be added after the fact. If your procedure requires super heating a fluid, then chips are added before the commencement of heating. I use boro chips when I clean SA. The temperature needs to be held at 300 Celsius. --- jb Not all microwaves are created equal.  I would just amend directions and say watch the beaker and when you see bubbles cancel heat. Actually just having any microwave around the materials we generally work with is problematic.  I like hot water baths for running reactions below 212, oil baths for above, and if I need hot water for extractions I use an electric bench top heater for making tea ### Other Hidden Danger: [[A Hidden Danger - Mortar & Pestles]]