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Can You Pop
Popcorn With a Cellphone?
by David Emery
Can
you pop popcorn with a cell phone?
The answer is no, but a YouTube video posted in 2008 and still frequently
shared via social media appears to show a group of people doing just that.
In the video, three
phones are aimed at kernels of popcorn arranged in the middle of a table
(see screen capture above); the cell phone numbers are dialed; the phones ring,
and the corn pops.
It
all seems quite genuine. There is no detectable trickery.
Trickery there must
be, however, because, as a simple matter of logic, if your cell
phone emits enough electromagnetic energy to pop popcorn, it should also make
your head explode when you make a call.
When
was the last time that happened to you?
The Museum of
Hoaxes' Alex Boese figured there must have been a heating element
hidden under the table.
A
physics professor consulted by Wired.com concurred, suggesting there was some
sneaky editing involved as well.
Some folks proposed
that the video — which, as it turned out, was one of several similar ones
posted around the same time in different languages — was part of a viral
marketing campaign for some as yet unknown company.
They were right.
Hoax Revealed
In a CNN news
segment broadcast on July 9, 2008, CEO Abraham Glezerman of Cardo Systems, a
manufacturer of Bluetooth headsets, admitted that the whole thing had indeed
been a marketing ploy.
"We sat down and said how can we create something that's funny, hilarious
and causes people to try and emulate it and eventually, of course, touching on
our business,"
Glezerman tells CNN correspondent Jason Carroll in the segment.
"And it
worked,"
Carroll notes, as video footage rolls of ordinary people trying to replicate
the effect in their own homes.
"Some
posted their own video versions trying to solve the mystery of how they got
those kernels to pop. One disassembled a microwave. Finally, for the first time
the real answer."
"The real thing is a mixture between a kitchen stove and digital
editing,"
Glezerman says.
"You fried the
popcorn separately somewhere else and then just dropped it in there, then
digitally removed the kernels?"
"Absolutely. You got it."
Many people had
shared the viral video claiming that it demonstrates that cell phone use is
hazardous to human health, an allegation not yet scientifically proven. CNN
anchor John Roberts addresses the point.
"And what about the idea that videos try to scare people who hold cell
phones close to their heads?" he asks.
"We really
never meant to insinuate any of that," Glezerman says. "The truth is that it was funny."
"So this
wasn't about scaring people?" Carroll asks.
"It wasn't. If
it was, the reactions would have been totally different. People laughed."
David Emery
· Noted chronicler of folklore
and debunker of urban legends since 1997
· Senior writer at popular
online fact-checking website Snopes.com
· Lauded in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban
Legends" and "Encyclopedia of Urban Legends"
Experience
David Emery is a former writer for ThoughtCo who
contributed articles on urban legends for 19 years. He has more than two
decades of experience as an internet folklore expert and debunker of urban
legends, hoaxes, and popular misconceptions.
David is currently a senior writer at Snopes.com, a popular online fact-checking
website. He first won recognition in the online universe as a commentator on
the outer limits of internet culture after creating Iron Skillet Magazine in
1997. The website, which he ran for one year, curated and annotated the
"Wild Weird Web." David has also been lauded by Brandon Toropov
in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban
Legends" and Jan Harold Brunvand in "Encyclopedia of Urban Legends."
Education
David holds a B.A. in philosophy from Portland
State University.
Awards and Publications
· Iron Skillet Magazine
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