Microwaves are a type of electromagnetic radiation, like radio waves, visible light and X-rays. They are used to heat food and for other applications, such as detecting radar signals. Police use radar guns to detect speeding cars by sending out a burst of microwaves that reflect off the car’s surface and are detected by the receiver in the gun, which computes the car’s speed. Other types of radar are used for tracking storms, detecting air traffic and other purposes.
Microwave ovens work by using a cavity magnetron to produce electromagnetic radiation that is directed into the cooking compartment of an appliance. The microwaves travel through the food and cause water molecules in the food to vibrate and heat up. Microwave ovens can keep the outer parts of a food cold while heating up its inner parts, which is convenient when cooking a pizza or lasagna that has large chunks in it.
Though your food absorbs the microwave energy, it doesn’t make your food radioactive or “contaminated.” Microwaves don’t actually remove electrons from molecules but move them around, which causes the molecules to vibrate and heat up.
A microwave oven’s power settings indicate how much power is being used. However, this is done not by changing the power being used but by switching the emission of microwaves on and off at intervals (called pulses). A defrost setting, for example, would consist of two seconds of microwave radiation followed by five seconds with no microwaves. This is a common technique for controlling microwave emissions, which has the side effect of saving on electrical energy because the machine does not have to constantly turn itself on and off.
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