Woman Heated a Cup of Water in the Microwave — Moments Later, She Had To Run to an Eye Doctor

Old-school electric kettles and stovetops are handy and easy to use. Yet, in a large number of American households, the microwave is endowed with the primary authority of heating the water for coffee or tea. Some people would rather stick a mug inside their microwave and press a few buttons rather than go all the way to boil water on the flame. But unlike the flame of a gas stove or an electric kettle, a microwave doesn’t always yield the result they desire. For instance, in Kristen Beamer's (@marleysroselife) household, the microwave caused them to pay an unexpected visit to the eye doctor, prompted by an explosion in the teacup. After hearing her experience, people are tut-tutting the trend of using a microwave for heating water.

“Our microwave cost us a trip to the ER and another to the eye doctor this morning,” Beamer said in the video, which has been viewed 3.7 million times. She said she posted this video to make other people aware of this scientific quirk. “I wanted to share for anyone else who didn't know that was a thing,” she said. Describing the incident that unfolded in her house 36 hours earlier, she said her daughter, Polly, walked to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea before going to bed. Polly, she said, put water in a coffee mug, and she put the mug in the microwave the “same way she does every single day. This is not something new.”

Beamer was also present in the kitchen, standing about 10 feet away from Polly. “She takes the mug out, she puts it on the stove. She has her tea bag, and she drops it into the mug. When she dropped the tea bag into the mug, it sounded like a gun went off. The water exploded up from the mug right into her face,” she said, elaborating on the episode’s details. Acting on the natural impulse, Beamer rushed to Polly and pulled her face into the bathroom sink, splashing it repeatedly with cold water. Then they took Polly to the hospital.

Although an instant splash of cold water saved Polly from a severe burn, she still got a blister near her eye, which led her to visit an eye doctor the following day. Thankfully, the doctor said the damage hadn’t reached the eye. Meanwhile, Beamer walked back to the kitchen and took a look at the coffee cup sitting there. “I mean, it was dry. It was dry. The tea bag was a good 8 to 10 inches away from the cup, like, I mean, it blew it out of it there. To blow a whole cup of water out,” the TikTok mom said.

As it turns out, what Beamer and Polly experienced has a name in science. It’s called “superheating,” as Steve Spangler, a science educator and keynote speaker, explained in an article. “What happens is that the water heats faster than the vapor bubbles can form. Without bubbles, the water cannot release the heat that has built up, the liquid does not boil, and it continues to heat up past its boiling point. If the water is bumped or jarred, it’s enough of a shock to cause the bubbles to rapidly form and the result is an exploding liquid that is scalding hot,” Spangler explained. One solution to this is to “place a wooden stir stick or something non-metallic in the water to help diffuse the energy as it is heating in the microwave,” he noted, and so did many people who viewed Beamer’s video.

“If you put a spoon or something that can break the surface tension, it will not explode. Spoons will not arc in a microwave like forks will,” said @christopherhayes580 in a comment. Others expressed abhorrence towards the trend of heating water in the microwave. “Why do Americans not have kettles? I have never used a microwave to heat water in my life,” said @Lisa. Another user wrote, “I am throwing my microwave away.” In Beamer’s case, however, their low-income neighbourhood prompted them to believe that the cheapest option was to use the microwave for heating the water. But now that the lesson is learned, they might switch to a traditional stovetop for good.

You can follow Kristen Beamer (@marleysroselife) on TikTok for lifestyle vlogs.