Well, I dont know how many of you have seen this site:

http://www.u-starvin.com/micromaniac/

They microwave alot of stuff - I understand it all, except the christmas lights.

 

how do they light up?

I've heard/read that you can put a light bulb into a microwave and you get plasma being formed (I'm not sure if that's 100% right, but you do get light flashes from the globe).

 

So I guess the same sort of thing is happening here.

The wire is an antenna. EM waves induce a potential difference in the wire and current flows.

The wire is an antenna. EM waves induce a potential difference in the wire and current flows.

 

ah ok, thanks

 

ok, another microwave question.

 

how come balls of plasma shoot out when you put a lit candle in the microwave?

Well, I've never seen it myself, but there are several experiments out there that produce a plasma. They generally rely on a mostly-empty microwave oven, so you get a bit of an energy buildup (which can damage the oven, since that can go back into the magnetron) and stronger fields, since the energy isn't being dumped into a volume of food. I'm guessing that you get local heating that melts the candle wax and that is where the plasma originates.