If you’re a Telecom Engineer and Hungry, this article is for you 🙂
During my discussion with my non-telecom friend, he was asking about the Telecom tower’s radiation and how it’s radiating the signals to the mobile equipment and then asked about the radiation of MicrowaveOven!
Here, I remembered when I searched for this topic 13 years ago when I was studying the #Electromagnetic waves. So let’s keep it simple 🙂
What is Microwave Radiation?
Microwaves are a form of “electromagnetic” radiation; they are waves of electrical [E] and magnetic [M] energy moving together through space. Electromagnetic radiation spans a broad spectrum from very long radio waves (Good Coverage) to very short gamma rays.
The human eye can only detect a small portion of this spectrum called #visiblelight. A radio detects a different portion of the spectrum, and an X-ray machine uses yet another portion.
What is the Microwave Frequency Range?
Microwaves are EM waves with wavelengths shorter than 1m and longer than 1mm, or frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz.
Why Microwave oven’s name is Microwave?
Microwave ovens are an example of a non-telecommunication use of RF energy. A microwave oven passes microwave radiation at a frequency near 2.45 GHz (12 cm) through food.
How does a Microwave Oven work?
Microwaves are produced inside the oven by an electron tube called a Magnetron ( as highlighted in the image). The microwaves are reflected within the metal interior of the oven where they are absorbed by food. Microwaves cause water molecules in food to vibrate, producing heat that cooks the food.
📢 That’s why foods that are high in water content, like fresh vegetables, can be cooked more quickly than other foods.
Can Microwave Oven frequencies interfere with mobile frequency?
It has never been shown that the RF energy from a properly operating microwave oven is strong enough to cause interference.
Is Microwave Oven Safe?
There are performance standards for the emission of radiation from the microwave oven that allow specific levels of microwave energy leakage (measured at 5cm from the oven surface). The standard also requires ovens to have two #independent interlock systems that prevent the oven from generating microwaves if the latch is released or if the door of the oven is opened.
Note:
- Most of the food that we consume has water and water is a polar molecule where the hydrogen atoms of the water molecule are placed at an angle of 104 degrees from each other and both the hydrogen and oxygen atoms have charges this makes the water molecules behave like a dipole.
- When an electric field is applied to the water molecule it starts to rotate due to the torque produced on the dipole since in electromagnetic waves the electric field oscillates continually and the water molecules will keep on oscillating due to this oscillating rotation the molecules against each other and produce friction and heat in the food.