Microwaves and Urban Myths

Microwaves aren't very efficient. They'll be emitting IR radiation that will warm the glasses of water.

not from a short distance away, it takes a fair bit to heat something like a glass above room temp otherwise your light bulb would make all your water warm.
 
Any leakage will be due to the door interface being misaligned or damaged. No microwaves will leak through the mesh on the door - it is as good as a solid panel.

The mesh on the door is only good for frequencies up to the cutoff frequency, determined by the size of the holes in the mesh. Microwave frequencies that are higher than that can go in and out without a problem.

You will always get a tiny amount of leakage. There is no such thing as a perfect Faraday cage.
 
The new microwaves with plastic door latches dont have any problems.

However old ones with magnetic somethings (dont really know really, heard that someone had gotten small burns from their microwave because the door wasn't closed right) can give you problems.

Probably just water molecules in your sweat heating up, no doubt.
 
SEE!!! Its not just my generic idiots that have this tales. Just like all myths they have a grain of truth in them somewhere...so where its it?

If you rigged the microwave to wrongly show the door as being closed when it was open, then microwave radiation would continue to be emitted when the door was open.

It's a damn small grain of truth.
 
The mesh on the door is only good for frequencies up to the cutoff frequency, determined by the size of the holes in the mesh. Microwave frequencies that are higher than that can go in and out without a problem.

You will always get a tiny amount of leakage. There is no such thing as a perfect Faraday cage.

Exactly, all the cage does is attenuates the radiation to acceptable levels.
 
So Im intrigued, Morbius, how come you are somewhat of an OcUK authority on microwaves? Just a good knowledge of physics or do you have some specific radiation/kitchen appliance experience?
 
So Im intrigued, Morbius, how come you are somewhat of an OcUK authority on microwaves? Just a good knowledge of physics or do you have some specific radiation/kitchen appliance experience?

Anyone that knows anything about RF/wireless communications will likely have very similar knowledge, however I'm not sure it's really relevant. Microwaves produce a particular frequency (unless faulty I suppose) and these holes will be small enough to prevent it from escaping from the door. Higher frequencies will of course be able to pass through... but that's not really a problem.
 
So Im intrigued, Morbius, how come you are somewhat of an OcUK authority on microwaves? Just a good knowledge of physics or do you have some specific radiation/kitchen appliance experience?

I design microwave antennas for a living, so I deal with RF pretty much every day. On top of that I'm a bit of a physics geek.
 
I design microwave antennas for a living, so I deal with RF pretty much every day. On top of that I'm a bit of a physics geek.

OCUK GD Forum...a plethora of talent, intelligence and kind souls...and the odd troll*

*not saying your a troll Morbius - your the intelligence - just balancing the statment
 
As an electrical engineer that regularly has to work with the horrible things... I can confirm Morbius knows his stuff :p
 
How come no one has invented a faster cooking device than a microwave? I mean 3 minutes to heat last nights curry up?? Come on boffins, get it sorted, this is simply not good enough. At least come up with a way for us to overclock our microwaves.
 
How come no one has invented a faster cooking device than a microwave? I mean 3 minutes to heat last nights curry up?? Come on boffins, get it sorted, this is simply not good enough. At least come up with a way for us to overclock our microwaves.

think of microwave wattage as our MHz/GHz. moar power = faster nuking :)
 
think of microwave wattage as our MHz/GHz. moar power = faster nuking :)

I'm amazed that 750w and there abouts still seems to be the norm. I've had a 1000w microwave since 1999 or so, but you hardly ever see them in shops (and no microwavable food has instructions for a 1000watter). Is there a reason they don't sell 1200/1500/2000w+ machines?
 
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