Imagine a microwave oven without a door, let’s pretend that it would still work. What would be the immediate/long-term of effects of using it? Let’s say that the user didn’t stand in front of the microwave but was in the room while in use.
If you’re far away from it there wouldn’t be much of any effect. If you’re close enough you might get a nasty RF burn (RF = radio frequency, a microwave is just a radio wave generator). RF burns are usually deep tissue burns, so they hurt like a mother.
Radio waves expand out using the inverse square law, meaning that the strength is 1/(distance squared). Think of it this way, if you move out 2 feet, the waves expand to 2 feet in the horizontal direction and 2 feet in the vertical direction, to cover 4 square feet. So, instead of getting half the energy, you get 1/4 of the energy. At 10 feet you get 1/100th of the energy that you’d get at 1 foot distance from the micrwave.
Mild exposure to microwaves is reported to feel pleasantly warm, and has not been proven to have any long term affects.
The eyes and testicles are especialy vulnerable to microwave radiation, they tend to heat up faster. So you’ll tend to notice the heat in those places first. Also if you have any peircings, those will also get hot first. Long term effects (assuming you didn’t get burned) from this particular frequency are minimal, perhaps reduced fertillity for males. Microwave photons aren’t energetic enough to directly damage DNA and cause mutations. Though they will hurt alot if you get a concentrated dose.
Lets see:
** If you have a pacemaker, you’ll be dead. Anything that the microwaves can interfere with is useless with the micorwave on.
** the microwaves will be sort of directional emanating from the opened part where the door used to be. If you stand at an angle, you may avoid direct irradiation. Might get some echoes depending on objects in the room.
** The only thing that stops a microwave from turning on is a safety interlock switch that the door activates when closed. It can be jimmyed to work even with the doors open.
** Any metals or metallic finnishesd objects in front of the door will store the energy as heat and can make the materials in contact with the metal combust.
** moisture will also store heat and cause that area to be hot.
**wont affect any cockroaches. Rats will go crazy when their lil balls explode.
** Long term effects may include sterility, brain damage, soft tissue damage, joint damage and a nomination for the darwin awards.
Actually it’s three switches. One to keep the circuitry from turning on if the door isn’t closed, a second as a backup to the first, and the third to create a dead short and blow the fuse if all else fails.
Wrong. The disturbed younger avatar of me microwaved a number of cockroaches. Microwave radiation didn’t fry them, but it certainly killed them, through overheating and tissue damage, I presume. Can’t say a thing about rats, but eggs pop spectacularly when microwaved long enough without breaking the shell. Smells bad, though.
Strange…when I did it, all the lil bugger did was stare back at me waving its antenni. Mustve found a cold spot in the box. i was suitably impressed too… till I manually squashed it.
Ants are not affected ether, probably a function of size. I remember as a kid trying this and hoping to see a spectacular explosion (or at least seeing it twitch and die) and being disappointed when it didn’t comply. About the microwave with no door, all safety concerns aside, it would be very inefficient. The oven is a resonant cavity, the door is, of course one side of this cavity. Without the door the microwave energy escapes and the oven would heat poorly at best.
Radiation Emissions From Microwave Ovens
Microwave Diathermy
Early diathermy device
Deep tissue burns are a problem with diathermy if microwave exposure is not carefully controlled.