Microwave Ovens

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Like many great science inventions of the past, the microwave oven was stumbled upon during another research project. The man who stumbled upon this great kitchen appliance that we use today, is Dr. Percy Spence, a self-taught engineer who worked for the Raytheon Corporation. Dr. Spence was working on a radar-related research project involving a new vacuum tube called a magnetron. It was during this research one day that he had noticed a candy bar he had in is pocket melted. Being a scientist this caught his curiosity. He preceded to try new experiments with the magnetron. He placed a few popcorn kernels near the tube and waited to see what would happened. It turned out that the popcorn kernels started sputter, crack and then pop in to popcorn all over the floor. The next day Dr. Spence tried another experiment, this time with an egg. He placed the egg next to the tube, and watched with another curious colleague. The egg started to tremor and quake. This was do to the quick change in temperature by the tube which was cause high pressures to arise inside the egg. The egg eventually exploded, but not before Dr. Spence's curious colleague went in for a closer look. As he did the the egg exploded covering his face with hot yolk! Dr. Spence, after the two experiments, concluded that the melting candy bar, the popping popcorn, and the exploded egg where do to exposure to low-density microwave energy. The First Oven... By late 1946 the Raytheon Company had already filed a patent proposing that microwaves be used to cook food. Engineers of the company went to work quickly trying to make a microwave oven for economical use. By 1947 the first commercial oven was placed on the market, after a test run in Boston r... ... middle of paper ... ... means that the waves just bounce off the interior walls and cannot escape while the oven is running. Therefore the only opportunity for the microwaves to escape is when you open the door. However there is nothing to worry about, because of what we stated earlier, and that is that microwaves tend to scatter and dissolve very quickly in the air. Safety Rules: 1) When a microwave oven is in use, stay away by at least an arm length. 2) When the microwave oven is empty, do not do any sort of operations to it. 3) Also, do not operate the oven if the door does not close or is in some way damaged. 4) Do not mess around with the fuse or safety interlock switches. Other Uses of Microwaves... Microwaves are not just used for cooking food, but for many other things as well. For example medicine, industry, science, consumer goods, and communication.

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