 |
 |
Microwave Radiation
Name: N/A
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
How can I measure how much radiation is being emitted
by my microwave oven? How much microwave radiation is too much?
Replies:
Microwaves are absorbed by water and other molecules
present in the air. Therefore it is unlikely that
the microwave oven does anything harmful. But I
jasjeet s bagla
I have measured leakage from hundreds of microwave ovens, using
very expensive equipment designed for just that purpose. I have
found only one that leaked significantly, and that one had been
vandalized and was obviously badly damaged. Microwave ovens are
designed NOT to leak, and they almost never do. Furthermore, it
can be shown that the exposure of a person an arm's length away from
even a badly leaking oven will get, I mean be, fairly low
compared to exposure standards. Most occupational and environmental
health scientists do not consider microwave ovens to be a hazard.
Measurement is tricky. You can buy cheap ($10 or so) devices in
hardware stores that claim to make such measurements, but I am
skeptical of their value. If you are very clever, you probably
could rig an antenna and a diode detector, and couple that to
a meter...but how would(typo) would you calibrate it? One of the
reasons that instruments that really work are so expensive, is
that they are hard to design and make. Also, do not be mislead
by the fact that radio or tv receivers may respond to an operating
oven -- what they are detecting is likely the "hash" created by
their power supplies or the scr or triac in their power circuit.
Click here to return to the Physics Archives
| |
Update: June 2012
|
|
