Recently my wife expressed concerns that our microwave is unsafe and I’m too ignorant to know why she is wrong. Please explain why microwaves are safe to use.
In: Technology
Did she clarify what safety she is worried about in particular?
Microwave ovens heat up food by blasting them with a type of energy called, you guessed it, microwaves! Microwaves are in the same category as X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, and radio waves – these are all forms of “electromagnetic radiation” with different energy levels.
Those are some scary words, and some types of this radiation are indeed quite dangerous. However, microwaves fall on the part of the spectrum close to radio waves, which means they have very low energy – even less energy than the visible light you and I see everywhere! The low-energy end of this spectrum is called “non-ionizing radiation”, because it doesn’t have enough energy to actually break apart molecules and turn them radioactive. It’s not terribly different from shining a flashlight in your food, except that it’s better at transferring heat.
So microwaves themselves aren’t particularly dangerous and comparable to radio waves or visible light that is all around us. Even so, all microwave ovens sold in the US are subject to strict regulations to ensure that the microwaves they emit do not escape the oven. That’s part of what those dots on the door are for.
If she’s worried about shoddy craftsmanship causing it to explode, my best advice is to get a new one from a reputable brand.
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