Today at work I had to make agar plates. For those of you who do not know what agar is, it is a gelatin like substance that is placed inside plastic petri dishes used to grow bacteria. In order to make these plates bottles of agar (gelatin stuff) has to be melted and poured. The process is a lot trickier than just microwaving it. You have to set the power level really low so it does not burn and explode. While in the process of melting I was working on another experiment and left the microwave unattended. I came back to find the entire contents of my bottle oozing all over the microwave.
It exploded and made a huge mess. I had to spend the next 10 minutes cleaning up the smelly oozing agar from the inside of the microwave.
Needless to say, I learned my lesson. Never, ever walk away from the microwave when melting agar.
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