Microwave

[Andrew Curnow]

I have a question, which may or may not be urgent depending on the answer!!

If you can picture a microwave, you've got the door, the base, the frame, and the sides. When you turn it on, the light comes on. Now... when ours is on, it becomes apparent that on the right-hand side is now totally flush with the frame, as you can see the light from the inside through a gap. My question (obviously) is - is this dangerous, in a "the radiation can get out" sort of way, or not?

Ta!




(If it's relevant, no I haven't been turning green and ripping my shirt of when I get angry recently, nor have any previously-undiscovered spidey senses been tingling.)

[Perry Vale]

Good question. I can see why you'd be worried, I don't know what the answer is, but I'd assume that it's quite possible that the 'light' is simply travelling through whatever secure sealing it has?

Have you tried googling the make and model number, to see if anyone else has had the same problem?

[Si Hunt]

Have you tried rebooting it?

Sorry, I know nothing about microwaves. They're magic though arn't they?

No, they are! Every other gadget we have, you can see how it works. Okay, a grill or a toaster, you can see how putting energy into the filament produces heat which warms and browns the bread. A fridge, you can sort of see how the coolant stuff runs through the pipes, it gets heated at the back and ETC. A car, you can see how the petrol burns and the energy is released to push the car away. But a microwave is just a BOX! Where are all the parts? And yet it cooks all food in about 10 seconds! I'm sorry, but it's magic. Yet someone has sneaked this bit of sorcery into our society amid all the other slightly complex things we don't understand and no-one has noticed.

But look at it! It's a box! And yet it cooks anything!

Magic!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Well, it has weapons applications:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...m-the-sky.html

The device is an extension of its controversial Active Denial System, which uses microwaves to heat the surface of the skin, creating a painful sensation without burning that strongly motivates the target to flee.

But as I understand it, it's a directed beam of light energy. It's a very small (micro) wave.

[Simon R]

It's very dangerous to fire energy weapons in an enclosed space.

[duncan]

I sleep in my microwave.

I get 8 hours sleep in 20 minutes!