hey how do microwave ovens work and more importantly how do the microwaves stay
in the microwave the simple explanation is that microwaves are actually too big
to get out of the oven but we can do better than that so let's dig a little
deeper into this hot pocket of science
microwave radiation has several Key properties that make it useful for
cooking first it's not too risky to use at home because it's a form of low
frequency non-ionizing radiation like radio waves
infrared and visible light this is opposed to dangerous high energy
ionizing radiation like X-rays and gamma rays that have a relatively High chance
of damaging DNA and causing cancer and a small chance of transforming you into a
giant green rage monster that's not to say that microwaves can't hurt you after
all humans are much like hamburgers in the sense that we are both made of Flesh
at high enough levels microwaves can cause Burns and other physical damage
which is why it's important to keep them contained second microwaves interact
with polar molecules which are made of both positively and negatively charged
atoms causing them to spin the extra energy from the spinning then radiates
from the molecules as heat in the case of food these are typically water
molecules where the oxygen atom has a positive charge while the two High
hydrogen atoms have a negative charge but microwaves don't interact much with
other kinds of molecules they really just bounce off them meaning that
microwaves can be easily contained by say a small closed metal box that's how
microwaves heat just the food and not the surrounding air or the sides of the
oven this is also why it's not a good idea to run a microwave oven while it's
empty without the water molecules and food to absorb the microwaves they can
end up damaging the device's electronics over time as for putting metal in the
microwave well it won't make the device explode but pointed metal objects might
spark due to electric charge building up at the tips which incidentally is also
why Guy Fieri's hair always looked like that but hey what about that window
electromagnetic radiation like radio waves and microwaves can pass through
glass right well we'll explain how that works right after we think Tailwind for
sponsoring this video If you're trying to improve your social media engagement
it helps to have a plan Tailwind is an app that simulates a marketing team all
in the palm of your hands generate a social media marketing plan personalized
to your needs leverage AI tools and design templates to create beautiful
posts and schedule your content releases so they come out when your audience is
most responsive use their Advanced analytic tools to see how your campaign
did and make any necessary tweaks to improve and optimize check out Tailwind
at the link below and leave your social media struggles in the dust the reason
why microwave ovens don't melt your face off when you look in the window is
because they're essentially a kind of Faraday cage that blocks electromagnetic
waves above a certain size from getting in or out you've probably noticed that
the window of a microwave door has a fine mesh embedded in it those holes are
more than big enough for visible light to escape like a mouse darting out of an
elephant pen but they're way too small for the microwaves to get through
microwaves are quite a bit bigger than waves in the visible light spectrum
which are only around 400 to 700 nanometers long the microwave spectrum
is from a millimeter to 30 centimeters or about 12 inches microwave ovens use a
frequency around 2.45 gigahertz which results in waves around 4.8 inches in
size which is way bigger than these holes these are simply not
microwave-shaped holes a microwave oven is typically only unsafe if the door no
longer seals the device has a hole in it or it has been modified to run with the
door open as an ammo saving way to defend your compound in a zombie
apocalypse it's also an unsafe place to store elements like radium that emit
gamma radiation because gamma waves are small enough to get through the holes in
the door's mesh I'm hoping that none of you are currently storing radium in the
microwave but if you are please stop and don't worry about opening the door
immediately after cooking microwaves travel extremely quickly so they'll be
absorbed into the food long before the door opens although waiting for a little
bit does have the advantage of allowing any hot spots to dissipate more evenly
throughout the food but that's up to you and how much of an appetite you still
have after I made you think about cooked zombies just now
that was a tech Wiki and it's over now thanks for watching like the video if
you liked it dislike it if you disliked it check out our other videos comment
below with video suggestions and don't forget to subscribe and follow it'll
make me happy maybe you too