On the Microwave Oven

[liveonearth]

The Nazis invented them. And they're in 90% of US kitchens but are banned in Russia. There's a really good rundown here from Mercola on the hazards of using microwaves. Leaked radiation affects our hearts, causing changes in heart rate and in heart rate variability. And of course we're getting similar radiation from cell phone towers, which frankly surround my current home and tower above the school building where I now sit. I seem to always have a microwave, but not because I ever buy one. Everywhere I go somebody buys one for my kitchen and then leaves it behind.

Comments

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia and others would have us believe Spencer invented it in 1945/6. The Germans were late to short wavelength RADAR which was invented by the British, so it seems unlikely they had the time, between the bombings, to try to cook anything with the ones that did land on them accidentally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Well, certainly, the nazis weren't using the technology for reheating their leftovers, so you can attribute that particular application of the technology to Spencer or whoever. However I am inclined to believe that the Nazi's were experimenting with the same effects far before the foodie use was patented.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

To heat water or fat you need around 10GHz or 3cm radiation, the krauts did manage to copy the 10cm/3GHz cavity magnetrons but they did not manage to produce the 3cm/10GHz devices that they would have needed. So no, not really.

Do you have a reason to suspect the Erics? Or is it just a general expectation that they were good engineers with bad thoughts towards others?

why I suspect the Nazis

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Because they were very free with their experiments, in part because they had little concern for experimental subjects that were not part of the "master race".

http://www.greenhealthwatch.com/newsstories/newsmobilephones/microwave-history.html

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Huh, so both the US and Germany claim they were first. So now I don't know who to believe, it's not like Wikipedia is any sort of a quotable source and this wouldn't be the first thing the US has claimed to have invented which existed elsewhere earlier. Like the electric light bulb.

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

My interpretation is that the Germans were first to apply the technology and the Americans were first to commercialize it.

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Whilst I don't wish to be argumentative it is in my nature, as an engineer, to question things that seem unlikely or ill documented.

That is the only page I have seen so far that says the Germans invented the microwave. The page also contains some statements which show a gross lack of technical knowledge and others which are just bollocks. They say the Russians used 100 killowatts per cubic centimeter per second to test irradiation of food. A Watt is a Joule per second, so Watts per second would be a rate of change of power. 100 killowatts per cubic centimeter would flash water to steam. Since that's a gram of water, which requires 205 Joules to raise its temperature 100C and a further 2206 Joules to vaporize it. So other 97,000 Joules... well I am laboring the point. And there isn't radiation floating around in the atmosphere that can magically be bonded to something that was heated with a microwave oven.

Other web pages discuss the claim, but they also point out that the Klystron couldn't produce useful power at the necessary frequencies and the Krauts hadn't managed to make a cavity magnetron work until they captured an H2S RADAR.

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

It may or may not be true. I am not inclined to engage in the research needed to establish the truth of the matter. Let me know if you find something more definitive than this website or wikipedia, OK?

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Well, all I found was that I got the frequency wrong. It's 2.45GHz which the captured magnetrons that the Germans could copy could produce. But by the time they had them it was way after they invaded Russia. This mentions the claim that Russia or Germany had them first. But that's all I found so far. It also straightened out the frequency thing for me.

http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/oven_history.cfm

So now that I know that I don't know I am going to go and sulk.

Re: why I suspect the Nazis

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

LOL. I can think of better things to sulk about.

[ngakmafaery.livejournal.com]

...I hate them: I got cooked by one once, felt it, and never bought one or have one in my house ever...

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I don't like to use the microwave. We have one but it seldom gets put to use. They're everywhere, though... no getting away from them. Or from blasted cell phone towers. Maybe in the most remote locations, but that's about it.