One may have wondered how well a normal CD ROM can hold up to extreme situations.  Often it may be a question as to whether or not it would be a good idea to, say, put a CD in the microwave, or take in the shower.  While common sense answers most of these questions, it is always a good idea to find out for sure by running scientific experiments.  This series of experiments was carried out to put an end to the uncertainty concerning the durability of CD ROM's.

    The test subjects consisted of a small collection of CD ROM's.  Half were randomly chosen to be control CD's (it is a coincidence that all of the experimental CD's were Microsoft Internet Explorer CD ROM's).  No placebo CD's were needed as CD's Are not alive, thus do not exhibit the placebo effect (although this has not yet been tested).  Thus the experimental subjects all are represented in the following picture:

The first experiment was to confirm people's general thought that CD's are delicate.  The experimental subject was placed on a table right side up, and was rapped sharply with a hammer.  No observable indentation was made, and so the CD was hit harder with still no effect. finally, the CD was pounded repeatedly with full force, but it simply defied all attempts to break it.  The CD was inserted into a computer, and the directory structure could still be read (the Setup.exe file was NOT run for obvious reasons).  Not to defeated by a simple CD, the experimenter placed the CD slightly over the edge of the table, and hit it were the CD was not on the table, and a piece broke off.  Thus being positively reinforced, the experimenter continued until the CD would break no more.  The CD no longer could be read by a computer in this state.
The control was still operable.

This experiment defied our hypothesis of CD's being delicate, thus one may be assured that pounding on CD's with full force is not dangerous to the data in the CD as long as the CD is on a flat surface.

The second experiment tested the effects of the microwave oven on a CD.  The hypothesis was that the CD would destroy itself and possible the microwave.  The experimental subject was placed on a folded piece of paper, and placed on a microwave with a ROTARY platform (it could matter).  The microwave used was a low power one with a single setting often used by college students in their dorm rooms.  The door was closed, and the microwave turned on.  After about a second, amazing circular electrical arcs raced across the CD.  After about five seconds, the arcs had turned into smaller confined arcs, and smoking ensued.  When the CD caught on fire, the experiment was ended.  The microwave was not damaged.  The CD went into a computer with difficulty (it had warped slightly), and spinned, but was not read from.  The control was unaffected.
Control:

Thus it would appear from scientific evidence that CD's should NOT go into a running microwave oven.
 

The third experiment was to see if the detrimental effects of the microwave oven also occurred in a conventional oven.  The oven was preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  The CD was placed on a folded piece of aluminum foil, and then put in the oven.  For about five minutes, the CD appeared to still be in working order, but then some warpage became evident, and after several more minutes, it was obvious that it would no longer work.  It was taken out of the oven and cooled with water, then pealed off of the aluminum foil.  The CD would not fit into a computer, and so it was assumed that it was no longer in working order.

The control was still in working order.

Thus, it can be seen that CD ROM's should not be stored in a heated oven.
 

The fourth experiment concerned the combustibility of the CD ROM's.  It had been heard through friends that CD's burned rather well, and so the hypothesis supported this idea.  A gas burner from a stove was lit and put on "high".  An end of a CD ROM was placed into the flame, and taken out when combustion was achieved.  To the experimenter's surprise, the flame went out immediately after it was removed from the heat.  It was attempted again, but this time kept in the flame.  The attempt had to be aborted because molten plastic was dripping onto the stove.  Aluminum foil was then folded over once, placed over the flame, and the CD was placed on the foil.  After a minute or so, the CD began melting like in the oven.  The edges began to bubble, but still no flame burst out.  A paper towel was lit and placed on top of the CD to ignite it, and this was successful, but the fire only lasted for a short amount of time.  Several more attempts were made with wooden toothpicks to light it, but the CD would not stay on fire.  Finally the experiment was ended and the CD cooled in water.  The resultant CD was much more brittle, and very distorted.  In some places the optical foil had peeled away, and in others the plastic had seeped from underneath the foil, making areas of clear plastic.  It was noted that this method could be used to make very nice modern art, and provided a use for the Microsoft Windows 95 CD's which accompanied the experimental subjects.  The CD had warped quite a bit, and thus could no longer fit inside of the computer to test the functionality, and so it was assumed to be destroyed.

Again, the control was still functional. 

This shows that CD ROM's are not as flammable as may have been thought.  They could, if necessary, be used to put out fires, but given the incredible sticky mess and dangerous vapors that would result in doing so, it is not advised unless the CD contains software sold by Microsoft.