While playing with a basketball in the kitchen (as one does), my brother has accidently cracked the glass screen on our microwave. The glass has been cracked to the point where it has bent, and there is actually a small hole in the glass. There is still an inner layer underneath the glass, so there isn’t a direct link between the microwave and our kitchen, but the glass outer layer is now effectively useless.
Is this dangerous? Would I be unleashing microwaves into the kitchen if I were to use the microwave now? Should we get it repaired?
Tests show that when the glass is broken on a microwave oven, there is microwave radiation leakage. I don’t know if this is dangerous but I wouldn’t take any chances. It would probably be cheaper to replace the oven than repair it.
Probably not- I think the important thing is that little metal grid that should be there- that’s what actually conducts the microwaves away from your face while you look in there. The holes in the grid are too small for the microwaves to go through.
Microwave radiation can cook you if you absorb too much of it. At high levels, it is capable of exciting the water molecules in your body, heating you up and possibly causing cellular damage.
Will the hole in the screen allow enough radiation to escape to do anything to you? It’s, really, impossible for me to say. All I know are the effects of microwaves on food. I think it’s better to either have it fixed by a qualified repairman or to buy a new unit, myself, but I don’t know how essential the outer screen is in radiation containment.
However, you’ll probably notice if you start boiling. That’s when you get further away from the microwawe and get a repairman.
Microwaves go right through glass, that’s why you can use glass containers in the oven.
As long as the mesh is intact you’ll be okay. (At least until your folks start asking just how the glass got cracked.)
There is probably more danger of leakage from the rest of the unit than from the door.
The metal mesh is what keeps the microwaves inside the box. Once the glass is cracked or damaged, there is very little protection for the relatively fragile metal mesh underneath. Once you get a hole in the mesh then radio waves will leak out into your kitchen, possibly at high enough levels to cause a really nasty RF burn.
Since damage to the mesh underneath is probably now inevitable, I would say it’s time to replace the microwave.