peep

Yet another part in a series of blog posts where I react to ridiculous physics in YouTube videos.

Synopsis:

In this video, Dane Boe wishes us a Happy Easter. To celebrate Easter, Dane Boe plans to put a Peep in a microwave that has been converted to a 1,000 watts microwave to a 100,000 watts microwave. Now Dane Boe has not tried to put one of the Peeps in the microwave yet, so he does not what is going to happen. Dane Boe proceeds to put the Peep in a plate in the microwave. Dane Boe admits that he cannot see anything and will turn the light off. Eventually, the glass in the microwave breaks and the Peep starts to growl. The Peep starts to break more glass and Dane Boe tries to run. Dane Boe admits that he despises Easter, and the Peep starts to crash into things, exploding them. The Peep also starts to scream. Eventually, Dane Boe is presumed to have been crashed by The Peep and the camera fades to static.

My Reaction:

First of all, power is defined as the product of voltage and electric current. Assuming that there is no fluctuation in the voltage, Daneboe must have multiplied the electric current by 100 to achieve the intended conversion. How he did this is unknown, but it is presumed that he used an amplifier or a transformer. He then sets the microwave to 5 minutes. (This happens 42.49 seconds into the video) At the cost of electricity in Dane Boe's state at the date of filming (which is 13.96 US cents per kilowatt hour), Dane Boe would be paying 1.16 US dollars in electricity costs in the video.

According to this source^[1], if one puts a Peep at a microwave for 30 seconds, it will grow to four times its original volume before deflating. Dane Boe's microwave, however, is special in the fact electric current is multiplied by 100. This implies that one can achieve the same intended effect by putting it in Dane Boe's microwave for 0.3 seconds.

However, we never get to see the full microwaving process, as this process is interrupted as the glass in the microwave breaks. This occurs 5.18 seconds after DaneBoe puts the Peep in the microwave. At 518 seconds in an ordinary microwave, the Peep would obviously deflate. However, in the movie, it is seen to have defied the natural deflation process. Peeps are well known for obeying a law that states that as temperature increases, volume increases.^[2] Since microwaves have constant power, it can be said that the relation between the heat energy in the Peep over the time in the microwave is proportional. The heat energy in the Peep is also proportional to the temperature difference, according to the heat transfer equation ${\displaystyle Q=c_{P}m\Delta T}$. Recall earlier that the temperature difference corresponds to a volume difference. Therefore, the more time one puts a Peep in a microwave, the larger it gets, and the relation between volume difference and time is proportional.

We would go ahead and find the volume of a Peep (not microwaved), but I do not want to buy a Peep. Searching for a volume of a Peep gives us no answer. So instead of a Peep, we are going to assume that a Peep is a cube (absurd assumption but makes math simpler). Now, according to this reference^[3], Peeps are 2.5 inches tall. We will let their height be one edge length of a cube. Plugging in, we get a Peep volume of approximately 15.6 cubic inches. Now, a Peep that is microwaved for 30 seconds has an approximate volume of 62 cubic inches. The volume difference is approximately 47 cubic inches. Recall earlier the volume difference is proportional to time. That means for every second, our Peep will be growing 1.56 cubic inches in volume. We can now write an equation relating volume of the Peep to the time spent in a regular microwave. The equation is: $${\displaystyle V=\frac{125}{8}+\frac{25}{16}t}$$.

Now, we do have to acknowledge Dane Boe's modded microwave. We multiply the time by 100 to obtain the new equation:

$${\displaystyle V=\frac{125}{8}+\frac{625}{4}t}$$

Finally, we cube root the equation (because I care about the length of the Peep):

$${\displaystyle L=\frac{5}{2}\left(1+10t\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}}$$Plugging in ${\displaystyle t=5.18}$ (the glass breaking incident) gives the Peep a height of 9.37 inches when it breaks the microwave glass. Oddly, it continues to grow despite not in a heat source (this shows the Peep could be resistant to heat and deflation and the Peep can generate its own heat). When the Peep starts to behave sentient (occurs 9.21 seconds into the microwaving), its height is now 11.33 inches. When the Peep starts to break other things at 16.95 seconds into the microwaving, its height is at 13.86 inches. When the Peep starts to leave the house at 22.79 seconds, its height is now 15.29 inches. When the Peep starts to destroy property at 30.81 seconds, its height is now 16.90 inches (surprisingly, it can destroy property despite being that short). When the Peep reemerges in 42.23 seconds, its height is now 18.77 inches. It manages to destroy its first vehicle at 45 seconds to the microwaving when it is at 19.17 inches.

When the camera starts to be focused on the Peep at 47.51 seconds, the height of the Peep is 19.52 inches. The last footage of the Peep occurs at 49.73 seconds into the microwaving and is 19.81 inches tall. It somehow manages to kill a human.

When the microwaving is complete, the Peep is now 36.06 inches tall.

The Peep Microwave Disaster is by far one of the least accurate physics videos. We showed that the Peep would not destroy homes and kill humans, even if it becomes sentient, because the Peep is too short. It would, however, destroy anything that is 36 inches or less in height.

I rest my case.

References: