So why did the microwave kill my cat?
I’ve used various mine talings over the years as ground cover and it has worked great and looked very realistic. I get the talings from Virginia City or some other mine. I have never baked or treated the talings.
The cat, being somewhere in the neighborhood of 97-98% water, creates a major hot spot.
[:-,]
Rotor
But I would not recommend trying to sterilize a freeze-dried cat using a microwave because the fleas often survive unless you first re-hydrate!
Don’t ants contain water?
About the same as a roach, which will sit back and sunbathe in a microwave.
RE: Conventional home oven vs. microwave oven.
For my modeling purposes it is usually easier just to dump the sand on a cookie pan and bake it in a conventional oven. The microwave does have “hot spots” , and if the sand is dry there will be no water for the magnetic field in the micro-wave to jiggle, and the inter-mollicular friction in those excited molicules are what causes the heat. You see the non ionizing radiation generated in the magnatron has a voltage, current and magnetic axis to the wave commenly refered to the X,Y and Z(magnetic) axis… Now most of us do not have a degree or understand the mechanics behind the heating caused by non-ionizing radiation in and around the 2.65 ghz range, which is close to where the microwave oven in your home operates(and some radars.) If you read several papers published in the various journals you may grasp how the magnetic field causes the heating effect. I am assuming we are an intelligent group of model railroaders on this forum so we can dispense with that formality. What it boils down to (no pun intended), is it is easiest to use a conventional oven when trying to kill the critters that may be in sand harvested locally. When trying to kill a cat, I would guess the microwave may be more efficient. Without emperical data I can’t say for sure about the cat. 45 years experience with a conventional home oven to dry materials for the layout is my preferred method. I found the microwave to be a pain in the neck for that purpose, and believe me I experimented with it; drying materials that is, not the cat thing.
Most importantly, and the real reason I am replying is this. You may consider washing the sand if there is any chanch of salt or other corrosives being present in the raw material. Conventional ovens will also do a fine job of drying the sand after washing it. Thats my story and I am sticking to
actually every living thing is mostly made of water no matter what it is which is why animals explode.
Whoa, which is probably why my Maine Coon walks really GENTLY when she perches on my microwave, LOL.
I’ve used sand on my layout, but never near the tracks and only after sifting and de-magnitizing and–yes, microwaving–it. The sand I get is from the Sierra, and is full of iron oxide and interesting little bits of Pyrite, and I only use it for lining creeks, rivers and lake-shores. But it does have a very unique look to it, and I haven’t found any other modeling substitute for it. But the stuff we have out here in our rivers would be absolutely DEADLY to motors if used around trackage, at least IMO.
Tom
Excited all the water molecules in the cat, not a good thing…
[sigh]
Back to sand: I know that people are often looking for handy sources of this stuff from landscapers and masoners supplies. I just found a new source.
My son works in a roofing shop while making money for college. He brought me several small bags of finely crushed rock/sand in HO dimensions. It is used by roofing companies in their torch-on work on flat roofs. The stuff is sprinkled on tarry margins where the roll of roofing does not extend properly.
It looked like it just came out of a hobby store. There is a HO sized grey blend that looks like ballast, a reddish brick one, and a charcoal-coloured one flecked with the brick red.
It has some iron particles in it, but sure looks clean and sterile. It is dustless.
I like that it is anglar and not rounded looking like most other scenics rock material.
I am going to use some as is, in spots far from the tracks for now. It looks like running a magnet through it would make it perfect for many uses.
I know the roofing shops get this stuff in very large bucketfuls. I don’t know what they might charge. Like other true rock stuff on your layout, it would be heavy in large quantities.
