Microwaves...not only in the Kitchen

Heating, Thawing, Defrosting, Cooking.....


All actions associated with the word Microwave. Though these are all accurate applications there are other devices using microwaves. Microwaves can be used to transport signals for mobile phone calls, radios and are used by astronomers for their research. These microwaves are carriers for telegraphs and transmissions from earth to satellites and space probes.

Commonly microwaves are used in kitchen appliances called microwaves. When they heat the waters and fats in the foods, which cooks the rest of the food at the high temperatures. As written by NASA, meteorologists use microwaves to detect incoming weather. Microwaves are used in this occupation because once they are projected into the sky the microwaves then bounce off the weather features and are returned to the satellites to calculate their distance from the satellites.  They can also be used to determine what weather feature is approaching with the help of other instruments.  

Microwaves (the wave, not the appliance) range in wavelength from 1 millimeter to 30 centimeters and have a frequency from 1,000 to 300,000 MHz. According to the Integrated Environment Management, Inc. microwaves can cause body damages such as cataracts in the eyes, burns, low blood flow to skin and can be fatal if exposed for a drastic length of time.

As written by C.R Nave at Georgia State University the microwaves in a kitchen are often caused by magnetrons with magnetic fields that pull electrons around a ring. The currents then cause microwaves to radiate at its resonant frequency, to then be absorbed by any food or drink to cook or heat it. By using this cooking process, food can be cooked from the inside, or where ever there is moisture, instead of from the outside inward like a oven.  Other waves are generated by satellites and received them as well to retrieve information.  Microwaves are able to travel through atmospheres to reach satellites unlike other waves, which are not able to enter Earth's Atmosphere, which enables microwaves to be used in space for further research of other planets.  

Microwaves can be used in many applications and can be generated by several different sources.  Personally, I never knew microwaves were related to any other informational services than cooking and heating food.  These microwaves will become our communication with those in outer space, and hopefully with other forms of life.  


From common house hold uses, such as transferring cell phone calls to helping connect numerous worlds and collecting information, microwaves have recently become tremendously important in our busy lives. 

Works Cited

"Microwave Radiation." Integrated Environmental Management, Inc. Integrated Environmental Management, Inc. , 1999. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.iem-inc.com/prnon1r.html>. Information

Nave, Carl R. "The Magnetron." Hyper Physics. National Science Teachers Association, 2001. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
<http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html>.  Picture and Information

Netting, Ruth. "Electromagnetic Spectrum." National Aeronautics and Space Administration . NASA, 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
<http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/micro.html>.  Picture and Information