Urban Legends

Let me see a raise of hands to those who have investigated and even tried to cook popcorn with their cell phone or any other cell phone? I am sure that many of you have seen the video of this and have either dismissed it immediately, marveled that it might be true, or tried it not longer after with your friends. Those of you who have tried it discovered the hard way that it is impossible and does not work.

This has became a myth and an urban legend - but do you know how it all started? It all started as a marketing stunt created and thought of by Cardo - a Bluetooth headset maker. They thought that many people would understand it was just a gimmick and an ad. What they didn’t expect was for so many people to ‘re-create’ it and be amazed by how true it could be.

The video - which shows a bunch of phones going off and at the same time popcorn kernels coming to life - is supposed to get you thinking about radiation. If cell phones can do that to popcorn, imagine what they’re doing pressed up against your face. Ideally, Cardo would like you to then start thinking about buying a Bluetooth headset and of course they would love it to be one of their models.

Obviously Cardo came out (not soon enough) to tell the whole world that it doesn’t work. So now many of us are curious as to how they got it to look like it could. What was it that was popping the kernels? Another mystery for another day.