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Chemically yes, physically no. Microwaved water is more buoyant because it has a heat gradient and rarely boils properly. It tends to get superheated and explode rather than boiling.
This is why tea bags float on top of microwaved water but not boiled water.
Tea bags float in my kettle heated water as well. And for the 27 years I lived without a kettle and microwaved my water (maybe 2-3 times a week) I have never even once seen water get superheated and explode.
I use my kettle 3 times before breakfast. So let's call it 6 times a day assuming I tail off towards bed time. That's 36 times a week assuming I spend 1 day away from home.
So what has taken you 27 years to achieve, I achieve in 2yrs and 3 months. Or to put it another way - I have 12x as many chances to get just the right conditions to flash boil the skin on my hands off.
American minds cannot comprehend the British commitment to a cuppa.
They indicated duration of method, not frequency.
Cool bro. You're better than me for how often you drink tea I guess. All I'm saying is I have heated water in a kettle enough to know tea floats no matter how you hear your water.
It was just meant as a joke - clearly not a good one given I seem to be the only one who found it amusing.
This. In the microwave, water is heated from top and sides.
In a kettle, it is heated from the bottom. With warm water rising to the top and cold water sinking to the bottom, the water will circulate to evenly distribute heat. This is the main benefit of the kettle.
I thought nearly any trace of minerals essentially reduced the likelihood of superheating down to near zero?
They do, it's pretty hard to get normal water to superheat, so OP's use of the phrase "tends to" is definitely misplaced. IIRC the MythBusters did a segment on that and they used distilled water. I think also re-boiling water might increase the odds of it happening, but I'm not sure.
Cool thanks for the confirmation :)