It was ten minutes into a brand-new day, late night at Redifer Commons already closed, and my stomach rumbled away. As a night owl, I could not count on two hands the amount of times I had been trapped in this situation. I knew that only a few viable options existed: Ramen Noodles, DP Dough, or Louie’s. I eventually decided to head over to Louie’s, grab some hot pockets, and throw them into my semi-reliable microwave. While waiting for a whole two-and-a-half minutes to pass so that I can devour the delicious processed food, I wondered, “How exactly does that noisy box of light heat my food?”
I took to YouTube to find out, and a complete answer came from Bill Hammack, a professor at the University of Illinois who oversees a YouTube channel dubbed “engineerguy.” Bill’s channel contains many fascinating clips in which he explains how everyday objects function. In one of his videos, conveniently entitled “How a Microwave Oven Works,” Mr. Hammack breaks down the three major components of microwave ovens and describes their functions.
Cavity Magnetron Used in Microwave Ovens
Bill explains that the key parts to any microwave are the wave guide, the container which encapsulates the object to be heated, and, most importantly, the vacuum tube known as a magnetron. Essentially, the magnetron provides energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which is the backbone of microwave ovens’ key advantage: cooking food from the inside. This is so because the magnetron rapidly changes the direction of the electromagnetic field in the container, causing the naturally polar water molecules in the food to oscillate at high frequency. An increase in particle movement translates to increased heat due to friction, so this, in turn, leads to a higher temperature in the food item.
There was my answer! I now knew exactly what allowed microwaves to heat or leftovers and frozen foods. And, with a little background in physics, the whole process seemed quite simple. However, this explanation brought another question to mind.
My friends and I once cooked a bag of popcorn in the microwave during our high school Latin class (yes, we had a cool teacher). While waiting for all the kernels to pop, one person sitting close by said, “You can all get cancer from sitting so close to that microwave; I would back up if I were you.” We all highly doubted this person’s statement, yet we still backed away just in case he spoke the truth. While watching Bill’s video, I remembered this incident and wondered whether the electromagnetic radiation from the microwave could actually pose any possible dangers.
Again, I took to the internet. Most resources that I consulted, such as Cancer Research UK, arrived at the same conclusion. While “radiation” seems like a harmful agent to most people, there are actually numerous types which can be grouped under the two broad categories “ionizing” and “non-ionizing.” Ionizing radiation comes from sources such as x-rays and nuclear reactions, and this type does prove to be potentially cancerous. However, exposure to almost all forms of non-ionizing radiation fails to result in cancer, and the type of electromagnetic radiation emitted from a microwave’s magnetron belongs to that category. Therefore, never should you have to lie awake at night worried that your microwave could kill you.
Good angle of entertainment here Eric. We all have heard the rumors and debated our decision to use a microwaves versus other options. Thus, you really strive successfully with empathy with this post. As a reader, I can relate fully to what you are speaking of in this situation, which makes your post effective. Additionally, it is interesting because it taps into the humor of our behavior and thoughts as humans in, as I said before, an empathetic sense. All this is achieved while, in the meantime, you provide information that, nonetheless, answers questions many have pondered. However, you do it in an efficient and “to the point” manner which really caps off a good post.
At first I looked at this post, and was just thinking, “Oh gosh, how am I going to think of a good comment for the internal mechanisms of a microwave”, but then I started reading and it was actually quite interesting. That is really cool how the water molecules move, essentially shaking the food until its warm. I really wonder who figured that out. Who figured out the incredibly complex process of constructing a magnetron, and then said, “you know what, we can make food warmer with this way faster than an oven can”? It’s kind of like who was the first person to see a chicken lay an egg, and say, “I bet I could eat that”. Think of all the possibilities with this new kind of microwave radiation! Yeah like reheating this pizza! I also wonder what would happen if something void of water was put into a microwave, would it really not heat up at all? That almost seems impossible, but the science seems to say that something without water in or around it would not get hot even with microwaves.
There was a cooking class in my middle school, and the teacher was an absolute “cancer” freak. She would not let you stand within two feet of the twenty microwaves in the room unless you were putting something in and taking it out, because she said that it would give you cancer. This frightened us children extremely, as we were too young to immediately realize she was just absolutely crazy. It took us until the end of the semester with her to realize that. We would open canned food and she would make us throw the cans away immediately because the metals could cause cancer. She did not let us touch anything not perfectly cooked without gloves because again that could cause cancer. Literally everything in her room caused cancer according to her, the world was just constantly trying to give you cancer.
I am really glad to have learned more about microwaves; perhaps this information will save my life on a chemistry exam in the near future. Thank you for the tidbit of information that I will not likely forget.