Did you pierce the potatoes before putting them to bake? I really don't know what would cause that to happen.

LOL. Either your household ghost was trying to make it cook faster, or some trapped moisture was steaming out of it, causing it to move. I am neither a ghost buster or a scientist, so I put the odds at 50-50 ;-)

Not woo-woo at all but actual science :-) Microwaves cause water molecules to vibrate....that's one of the ways they produce heat. This is because water molecules happen to have electrically positive and negative ends that are pulled back and forth by the electric fields of the waves. The rocking you were seeing were just the vibrations generated by the water molecules. Once the water was steamed off or evaporated, the rocking stops.

steam trying to escape...

Does a toaster oven generate waves of electric fields?

Voodoo juju, without a doubt.

Lars, that was a microwave answer. The answer that heat making the water in the potato steam up, and push it around while trying to escape counts for all kinds of heat. Presumably, the potato was rocking side down to begin with, rather than sitting flat and squarely, where it would have taken more force to move it.

BTW this was in the toaster oven, not the microwave. I think putting a perfectly good baking potato in a microwave is sacrilege!

Yes I always cut a slit in the potato.

The scientific explanations about the steam escaping are probably right but I happen to like Elmer's answer the best because I like woo-woo. It's more fun.

This can be a scientific as well as a philosophical situation.

But I will only talk about the science.

It is one in a billion chance that you placed the potato in a position that is 100% balanced based on its shape and weight distribution. As it is being heated up, the side that is closer to the heating element evaporates some moisture, causing the potato to tip one side. This will make the other side now closer to the heating element and become lighter in weight. The cycle can repeat itself.

All events in the universe, all happens by chance, one in a billion chance. If you flip a coin, Heads or tails 50/50 % chance? Wrong! There is a one in a billion chance that the coin can land on its edge.

Lars, yes, as long as there is electric current flow, there will be magnetic field generated. That's why some appliance hum. (Joke: why is my toaster humming? because it doesn't know the lyrics).

I just (yes, by chance) saw on youtube yesterday, in a research lab, a scientist levitated a strawberry using extreme strong magnetic field.

dcarch

" It is one in a billion chance that you placed the potato in a position that is 100% balanced based..... "

There is a 98.225 percent likelihood, at a confidence level of 95%, that this cited "one in a billion" probability, like most others stats and similar things cited on the internet, isn't scientific at all and is simply the made-up creation of someone's imagination.

Rita, what is it about potatoes. It's not like we cook them rarely ;0)

A few years ago, I put potatoes in to bake while a roast was finishing. They were pierced, I had baking potato nails in them. They must have sealed up around the 'nails' during a longer cooking time with my reduced roast temperature.

I opened the oven door to check the roast, closed it again, heard something between a loud 'poof' and a boom. Opened the door to a fine coating of fluffy potato everywhere.

Opening the door, then the oven element probably coming back on caused a temp change that led to explosion? Whatever the answer, I had a mess. And no potatoes to go with my rib roast.

IMPE, if you forget to pierce it, the potato skin can puff up with trapped steam and shake as described.

repeat the experiment ... and take notes ...

was there alcohol involved? *grin*

Sad, Morz, about the all over. I'm not fond of potatoes--not hate, just apathy--but that exploded fluffed potato, in a controlled and plateable situation, is really nice.

Ritaweeda, if you can make it happen again, you can add shaked potato to your repertoire.

I had assumed it was escaping steam.

"Opening the door, then the oven element probably coming back on caused a temp change that led to explosion?"

I had about a pint of water do something like that in the mic. Opening the door triggered the explosion.

I'd given the water 3 minutes which I thought should just about make it boil.

I decided to go for an actual boil so gave it another 10 seconds.

No boil so I gave it another 10 seconds and another and another.

Finally I said the heck with it and gave it an extra 60 seconds and was beginning to think my mic was giving out.

Still no boil so I started to open the door. As the door was just starting to open I finally got my boil. It was like one giant bubble that blew the entire 16 ounces of water up and out of the measuring cup.

I had never heard of that happening. Of course when I googled, I found that yes, it does happen and a person can get scalded pretty badly.

That's called superheating and I think it's the surface tension that keeps the steam from escaping. It can be dangerous

You can minimize the problem by putting a wooden stirring stick in the cup, or floating a wooden toothpick on the surface.

The wood stick works because it gives an irregular surface (not smooth like glass) a place for bubbles to form and release. If you do a search on it, you'll find that it's a common issue. I think they print warnings nowadays.

Archie:

Can hardly wait until we can travel site to site in our levitated strawberries .... *grin*

Wouldn't have to pack a lunch.

But a traffic 'jam' would be messy

The potato rocked because there was some very small break in the skin where the steam escaped....no one says potatoes are perfect.
And I have had a potato explode in my oven, even though pierced, more than once....more than twice....easily 4 or 5 times. That sickening "foomph"....and you know what you will find. Someone once told me it was the "sap" in the potatoes sealing the holes I poked....so now I poke many holes....but it took many messy ovens to remember to do that!
Microwaves do cause water molecules to move around but not in unison adn certainly not in such a controlled manner as to cause a potato to rock.
And a microwave will not kill meal worms.....ask me how I know!!

I've had a number of cups of water heated in a microwave erupt when I dropped a tea bag in them. Potentially dangerous indeed!

Water has interesting scientific behaviors. Superheating is one, Supercooling is the other , water may not freeze at below 32F.

Another strange property, water expands when cooled.

dcarch

EF, it was pretty obvious that DC was not citing an actual computed statistic.

Of course, I thought my equally silly statistic was clear about that.

Obviously, potato was possessed.

Is the movie going to be called attack of the killer potatoes? ;)

I've lost a few potatoes to explosions. It is quite a mess! Plus I got burnt by a ravioli which exploded in my face so I know all about pressure build-up and explosive release. Glad no one was hurt during the baking of the potatoes.