A Brief History of the Microwave Oven

Like many of today's great inventions, the microwave oven was a by-product of another technology. It was during a radar-related research project around 1946 that Dr. Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, noticed something very unusual. He was testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron (we are searching for a picture of an actual 1946 magnetron), when he discovered that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. This intrigued Dr. Spencer, so he tried another experiment. This time he placed some popcorn kernels near the tube and, perhaps standing a little farther away, he watched with an inventive sparkle in his eye as the popcorn sputtered, cracked and popped all over his lab. The next morning, Scientist Spencer decided to put the magnetron tube near an egg. Spencer was joined by a curious colleague, and they both watched as the egg began to tremor and quake. The rapid temperature rise within the egg was causing tremendous internal pressure. Evidently the curious colleague moved in for a closer look just as the egg exploded and splattered hot yolk all over his amazed face. The face of Spencer lit up with a logical scientific conclusion: the melted candy bar, the popcorn, and now the exploding egg, were all attributable to exposure to low-density microwave energy. Thus, if an egg can be cooked that quickly, why not other foods? Experimentation began... Dr. Spencer fashioned a metal box with an opening into which he fed microwave power. The energy entering the box was unable to escape, thereby creating a higher density electromagnetic field. When food was placed in the box and microwave energy fed in, the temperature of the food rose very rapidly. Dr. Spencer had invented what was to revolutionize cooking, and form the basis of a multimillion dollar industry, the microwave oven. Click HERE: 1958 Issue of Readers Digest article about Dr. Percy Spencer Click HERE: Wikiverse - A World of Knowledge. Article about Percy Spencer with additional links.

Nearly 6 Feet Tall, Weighing 750 Pounds

Engineers went to work on Spencer's hot new idea, developing and refining it for practical use. By late 1946, the Raytheon Company had filed a patent proposing that microwaves be used to cook food. An oven that heated food using microwave energy was then placed in a Boston restaurant for testing. At last, in 1947, the first commercial microwave oven hit the market. These primitive units where gigantic and enormously expensive, standing 5 1/2 feet tall, weighing over 750 pounds, and costing about $5000 each. The magnetron tube had to be water-cooled, so plumbing installations were also required.

Initial Reactions Were Unfavorable

Not surprisingly, many were highly reluctant about these first units, and so they found only limited acceptance. Initial sales were disappointing...but not for long. Further improvements and refinements soon produced a more reliable and lightweight oven that was not only less expensive, but, with the development of a new air-cooled magnetron, there was no longer any need for a plumber. The microwave oven had reached a new level of acceptance, particularly with regard to certain industrial applications. By having a microwave oven available, restaurants and vending companies could now keep products refrigerator-fresh up to the point of service, then heat to order. The result? Fresher food, less waste, and money saved.

New and Unusual Applications

As the food industry began to recognize the potential and versatility of the microwave oven, its usefulness was put to new tests. Industries began using microwaves to dry potato chips and roast coffee beans and peanuts. Meats could be defrosted, precooked and tempered. Even the shucking of oysters was made easier by microwaves. Other industries found the diverse applications of microwave heating quite advantageous. In time, microwaves were being used to dry cork, ceramics, paper, leather, tobacco, textiles, pencils, flowers, wet books and match heads. The microwave oven had become a necessity in the commercial market and the possibilities seemed endless.

The First "Radarange"

In 1947, Raytheon demonstrated the world's first microwave oven and called it a "Radarange," the winning name in an employee contest. Housed in refrigerator-sized cabinets, the first microwave ovens cost between $2,000 and $3,000. Sometime between 1952-55, Tappan introduced the first home model priced at $1295. In 1965 Raytheon acquired Amana Refrigeration. Two years later, the first countertop, domestic oven was introduced. It was a 100volt microwave oven, which cost just under $500 and was smaller, safer and more reliable than previous models.

By 1975 Sales of Microwave Ovens Exceeded that of Gas Ranges

Technological advances and further developments led to a microwave oven that was polished and priced for the consumer kitchen. However, there were many myths and fears surrounding these mysterious new electronic "radar ranges." By the seventies, more and more people were finding the benefits of microwave cooking to outweigh the possible risks, and none of them were dying of radiation poisoning, going blind, sterile, or becoming impotent (at least not from using microwave ovens). As fears faded, a swelling wave of acceptance began filtering into the kitchens of America and other countries. Myths were melting away, and doubt was turning into demand. By 1975, sales of microwave ovens would, for the first time, exceed that of gas ranges. The following year, a reported 17% of all homes in Japan were doing their cooking by microwaves, compared with 4% of the homes in the United States the same year. Before long, though, microwave ovens were adorning the kitchens in over nine million homes, or about 14%, of all the homes in the United States. In 1976, the microwave oven became a more commonly owned kitchen appliance than the dishwasher, reaching nearly 60%, or about 52 million U.S. households. America's cooking habits were being drastically changed by the time and energy-

saving convenience of the microwave oven. Once considered a luxury, the microwave oven had developed into a practical necessity for a fast-paced world. An expanding market has produced a style to suit every taste; a size, shape, and color to fit any kitchen, and a price to please almost every pocketbook. Options and features, such as the addition of convection heat, probe and sensor cooking, meet the needs of virtually every cooking, heating or drying application. Today, the magic of microwave cooking has radiated around the globe, becoming an international phenomenon.

Inventor Spencer
Doctor Spencer continued at Raytheon as a senior consultant until he died at the age of 76. At the time of his death, Dr. Spencer held 150 patents and was considered one of the world's leading experts in the field of microwave energy, despite his lack of a high school education. On September 18, 1999, Dr. Percy LaBaron Spencer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and took his place in history alongside such great inventors as Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. Click HERE: 1958 Issue of Readers Digest article about Dr. Percy Spencer Click HERE: Wikiverse - A World of Knowledge. Article about Percy Spencer with additional links. More to come on the fascinating history and development of the microwave oven... Note: Photo of Percy Spencer and Patent provided courtesy of The Spencer Family Archives Picture of the earliest microwave oven provided courtesy of The Lemelson-MIT Awards Program's Invention Dimension web site, http://web.mit.edu/invent

MICROWAVE OVEN

Questio Answe & ns rs Basic Microwave Oven Information, Safety Issues and Principles of Operation
1997-2005 by J. Carlton Gallawa . All Rights Reserved Worldwide Last updated 4/20/2005

Microwave ovens use microwave energy to heat or cook food in a fraction of the time needed to cook with conventional ovens. Unlike conventional ovens, a microwave oven heats food without applying external heat. A magnetron tube is used to produce short electromagnetic waves known as microwaves, or R. F. energy. Microwave energy is directed into the cooking chamber where the food is placed to be heated.

The microwaves readily pass through many materials, such as glass, most plastics, paper and china, with little or no effect. Generally, these materials make excellent utensils for cooking in a microwave oven. Some other materials, such as metal and foil, tend to reflect microwave energy. Except for certain recommended procedures that involve the use of metal or foil as outlined in the use and care manual, use of metal utensils in microwave ovens should be avoided. Why? For the following reasons: Metal utensils do not allow complete penetration of the food by the microwaves, so cooking efficiency is greatly reduced. If the cooking load is not large enough to absorb the microwave energy, the oven could be damaged by an arc between the metal utensils and the cavity interior or door assembly. The life of the magnetron tube can be shortened by extended periods of backfeeding R. F. energy, which raises the magnetron tube's filament temperature.

Because metal reflects microwave energy, the metal walls of the cooking cavity are not affected by microwaves and do not get hot. Materials with high moisture content, like most foods, absorb microwave energy. As the electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 2450 million cycles per second enter the food, the molecules tend to align themselves with the cycling energy (animated illustration). Since the microwaves are changing polarity with every half cycle, the food molecules follow these alternations and thus move rapidly back and forth. In effect, the food molecules are changing direction every half cycle, so they are oscillating back and forth 4,900,000,000 times each second. This high-speed oscillation causes friction between the molecules, thereby converting the microwave energy to heat.

Microwave Facts and Safety Information

Microwaves are a form of radiant energy. Other common forms are radio waves, visible light, infrared heat and electricity. All forms of radiant energy are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. To distinguish between the forms, they are classified according to the wave length which may vary from miles to thousandths of an inch. Microwaves are located in the non-ionizing portion of the energy spectrum between radio waves and visible light. The first application of microwaves was in radar during world war II (See History of the Microwave Oven). Today microwaves are widely used in communication systems, radar and many other commercial and industrial applications. Significantly large segments of the population are exposed to infrared rays, visible light waves and microwaves every day. One characteristic of microwaves is their ability to bounce or deflect off metal surfaces, a characteristic basic to its use in radar. Another is its thermal or heating effect utilized in microwave cooking. The difference between microwave energy and other forms of ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays, is that microwave energy is non-ionizing. In other words, it does not alter the molecular structure of the item being heated. The

effects of microwave energy are strictly thermal and do not cause cellular change as with ionizing radiation.

Microwave Oven Questions & Answers

QUESTION Is it possible for heated liquids to suddenly and mysteriously erupt when : being removed from a microwave oven, possibly causing severe burns? ANSWER: Yes. Heated liquids can erupt, boil over and cause severe burns. Hot liquids that appear dormant while being removed from the oven can suddenly--without warning--erupt like an exploding volcano. This is a consequence of a phenomenon known as SUPERHEATING. Superheated liquids are in fact at or above the boiling point, but to all appearances they show no signs of boiling--that is, until they are disturbed. The simple motion of removing the container from the microwave may provide the vibration needed for the seething liquid to erupt in a scalding blast. Superheating can be prevented by stirring the liquids before heating them, or by pouring in another ingredient, which mixes air with the liquid, thus preventing the fulminate phenomenon from occuring.--Exerpt from the book, The Complete Microwave Oven Handbook, pgs. 386-387. (Available on CD ROM. Click HERE for more)

QUESTION Is it true that microwaves can cause bodily harm before the body is able : to feel the heat? ANSWER: No. Since microwaves have a thermal effect, the body's sensory nerves can feel the heat created by the microwaves at levels far below the levels necessary to cause injury even during short exposures. See How Dangerous are Microwaves?

QUESTION Have microwave ovens been known to cause cataracts or sterility? : ANSWER: To our knowledge, there is no known case or responsible claim of cataracts or any other effect such as sterility recorded from using a microwave oven.

QUESTION Can microwave ovens affect cardiac pacemakers? : ANSWER: As with other types of electronic products, microwave energy could cause undesirable currents to flow in the electric leads of a pacemaker. Implanted pacemaker dysfunction has been observed near electrocautery and diathermy apparatus, radar and communication systems, walkie-talkie radios, auto ignition systems and even electric razors. This is because devices such as these can generate electronic interference that can be intercepted by the tiny electronic circuits and wires of a pacemaker. If the pacemaker is exposed to sufficiently intense levels of microwave energy, unwanted currents can flow in its wires and circuits that may cause the pacemaker to dysfunction. While such problems are unlikely, it makes sense to warn pacemaker users whenever a microwave oven is in use. All patients with pacemakers should consult with their physicians for the final word on this matter. QUESTION Is eating food cooked in a microwave oven harmful? : ANSWER: No. Microwaves are simply a source of heat energy just like gas and

electricity. All three produce cooking in the food itself. Food cooked in a microwave oven is not radioactive or contaminated and is not harmful to eat. QUESTION What prevents microwave energy from escaping through the exhaust : vents or through the perforations in the door where the light shines through? ANSWER: Microwaves do not escape through the small perforations in the door, nor do they get out through the exhaust vents, because of the physical characteristics microwave energy. In RF energy applications there is a direct relationship between the frequency (cycles per second or Hz) and the wavelength (physical size of the wave): The higher the frequency, the proportionately shorter the wavelength; and, the lower the frequency, the proportionately longer the wavelength. The inverse is also true. The small holes in the door allow light waves to pass through, thus making it possible to see the food cooking inside, because the frequency of light waves is extremely high, which means that their wavelength very small--physically small enough to pass through small holes. On the other hand, microwaves are lower in frequency, thus they have a longer wavelength (at 2450 MHz, about 4 3/4 inches, in fact). Therefore, microwaves are simply too large to pass through the small holes in the door and in the exhaust vent openings. To the microwaves, these small perforations actually represent a solid metal wall that effectively blocks or reflects the microwaves back in the opposite direction.

How Do Microwaves Cook?

Excerpts from the book The Complete Microwave Oven Service Handbook
--NOW available on CD-ROM (CLICK HERE)

and from the video You Can Fix Microwave Ovens Copyright 1996-2005 by J. Carlton Gallawa

Microwaves possess three basic characteristics:

1. Just as sunlight shines through a window, microwaves pass right through some materials. Materials such as glass, paper, and plastic are transparent to and generally unaffected by microwaves. 2. Microwaves are reflected by metal surfaces, much as a ball would bounce off a wall. The metal walls of the cooking space actually form a cavity resonator. In other words, the enclosure is designed to resonate the microwaves as they are radiated from the magnetron tube. The principle of resonance may be illustrated using sound waves. When a piano key is struck, it produces sound vibrations or sound waves. Sometimes a note is played on a piano, and an object across the room, perhaps a wineglass, can be heard vibrating and producing the same sound. This is the result of

resonance. The resonating characteristics of the wineglass are the same as those of the piano string. Therefore, the wineglass is in tune, or in resonance, with the sound wave produced by the piano string. In the same way, the cooking cavity of a microwave oven is designed to be in "tune" with the resonant characteristics of the microwaves. o Metal racks are physically proportioned so as not to disrupt the energy pattern. 3. Microwaves penetrate and are absorbed by some substances, primarily food products.

Friction Produces the Heat That Cooks the Food

To illustrate this third characteristic, notice the cooked turkey to the right. The waves of microwave energy are cycling above and below a horizontal baseline. The half cycle below the baseline possesses negative properties, and the half cycle above the line is correspondingly positive. Basically, the effect of this wave, as it alternates between positive and negative, would be like a magnet flipping back and forth. All liquids and food products, such as this turkey, are made up of molecules. These molecules have positive and negative particles, so they tend to behave like microscopic magnets. As the positive half cycle of the microwave penetrates the food, the negative particles of the molecules are attracted and attempt to align themselves with this positive field of energy. Then, when the microwave energy alternates to the negative half cycle, the opposite occurs -- The negative particles are repelled and the positive particles are attracted, causing a flipping motion (actually, this reaction is the movement of the particles within each molecule, so, technically, they reverse polarity). This might be compared to a room full of people trying to run back and forth, from one side to the other. Obviously, there would be a lot of bumping, rubbing, agitation, and friction. Now, consider that the actual frequency of the RF energy used in microwave ovens is 2450 million cycles per second! Moreover, consider that within the course of one of those cycles, the molecules would actually change their direction (polarity) twice - once for the positive half-cycle and once for the negative half-cycle. This red-hot rate of vibration causes tremendous friction within the food, and - just as rubbing your hands together makes them warm this friction produces heat. So the heat is produced directly in the food, but the food is not cooked, as is commonly believed, from the inside out. Actually, the cooking begins just beneath the outer surface and from there inward and outward, with the majority of the energy being expended in the outer layers. The rate and degree of heating

depend on the depth and density of the food, as well as its ability to conduct heat. Because the microwave energy is changed to heat as soon as it is absorbed by the food, it cannot make the food radioactive or contaminated. When the microwave energy is turned off and the food is removed from the oven, there is no residual radiation remaining in the food. In this regard, a microwave oven is much like and electric light that stops glowing when it is turned off.

Microwaves are very short waves of electromagnetic energy

that travel at the speed of light (186,282 miles per second). Microwaves used in microwave ovens are in the same family of frequencies as the signals used in radio and television broadcasting. The theory of electromagnetic energy can be illustrated by what happens when a pebble is tossed into a quiet pond. The pebble striking the still surface causes the water to move up and down in the form of ripples, or waves, that radiate in ever-widening circles over the surface of the pond. These waves, which move up and down at right angles to the direction they are traveling, are called transverse waves. Microwaves are examples of transverse waves. The disturbance resulting from the pebble landing in the water is transmitted through the water in the form of ripples or waves. The water serves merely as a medium through which the disturbance travels. In this sense, these ripples are more like sound waves, which also need a medium to travel through, normally using the molecules that exist in the air or water. That is why, for example, thundering rocket engines that would deafen the ears under normal circumstances, would be inaudible in the quiet vacuum of space. On the other hand, electromagnetic forms of energy, such as microwaves, radar waves, radio and TV waves, travel millions of miles through the emptiness of space without the need of any material medium through which to travel. This is because, simply put, electromagnetic waves are, in themselves, stored energy in motion.

A Phenomenal Force
Electromagnetic radiation begins with a phenomenon that occurs when electric current flows through a conductor, such as a copper wire. The motion of the electrons through the wire produces a field of energy that surrounds the wire and floats just off its surface. This floating zone or cloud of energy is actually made up of two different fields of energy, one electric and one magnetic. The electric and magnetic waves that combine to form an electromagnetic wave travel at right angles to each other and to the direction of motion. If the current flowing through the wire is made to oscillate at a very rapid rate, the floating electromagnetic field will break free and be launched into space. Then, at the speed of light, the energy will radiate outward in a pulsating pattern, much like the waves in the pond. It is theorized that these waves are made up of tiny packets of radiant energy called photons. Streams of photons, each carrying energy and momentum, travel in waves like an undulating string of cars on a speeding roller coaster.

Is Microwave Radiation the Same as Radioactive Radiation?

No. There is a very important difference. As illustrated by the frequency spectrum on the right, microwaves used in microwave ovens, similar to microwaves used in radar equipment, and telephone, television and radio communication, are in the non-ionizing range of electromagnetic radiation. Non-ionizing radiation is very different from Ionizing radiation . Ionizing radiation is extraordinarily high in frequency (millions of trillions of cycles per second). It is, therefore, extremely powerful and penetrating. Even at low levels, ionizing radiation can damage the cells of living tissue. In fact, these dangerous rays, have enough energy and intensity to actually change (ionize) the molecular structure of matter. In sufficient doses, ionizing radiation can even cause genetic mutations. As shown on the frequency spectrum, the ionizing range of frequencies includes X-rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays. Ionizing radiation is the sort of radiation we associate with radioactive substances like uranium, radium, and the fall-out from atomic and thermonuclear explosions. Non-ionizing radiation is very different. Because of the lower frequencies and reduced energy, it does not have the same damaging and cumulative properties as ionizing radiation. Microwave radiation (at 2450 MHz) is non-ionizing, and in sufficient intensity will simply cause the molecules in matter to vibrate, thereby causing friction, which produces the heat that cooks the food.