Can the radiation in the microwave really kill you?

Question

I remembered seeing in CNN about radiation from the microwave killing a person. Is this true? If yes, how?

Answer 1

Microwave radiation is a low-energy electromagnetic radiation, but higher-energy than radio waves. You can have a powerful stream of microwave radiation, but individually the microwave "quanta", considered as particles, are very weak. It is not the same as high-energy electromagnetic radiation which from most powerful to least powerful are cosmic rays, gamma rays and X-rays.

But microwave energy is the right type that can rotate free-standing molecules, especially water molecules. The microwaves bounce around the metal insides of the oven until they meet wet foods, and only then the energy transfers into the food as high heat and cooks food for you. Follow the instructions in your oven's manual; for example, never leave metal items and only use microwave-safe plastic and glass dishes that will never heat up from microwaves, only from hot food.

If a living organism is exposed to a bit of microwave radiation on one part, it might "cook" a DNA molecule and alter it. Altered DNA leads to cancer risks, although exactly HOW much of a risk is something that has to be decided upon. Most of the time DNA damage only makes a cell inactive rather than grow explosively as cancer.

Being completely enclosed inside of a microwave, of course, will heat up the animal, disrupt cell structures from build-up of water vapor, and kill the animal.

You need not be paranoid about your microwave. It is mechanically designed with a safety lock that only runs the microwave when the door is closed, and the wavelength of the microwave is so long that it is completely blocked by a metal screen with holes -- which is why you can see into the special window of a microwave oven without even ONE microwave getting through to you, only the light from the lightbulb. You may have seen radar dishes which are metal frameworks with even bigger holes yet which by electromagnetic theory reflect ALL the radio waves. So it's the same sort of thing only a smaller scale of holes.

If you are worried about the proper running of an old microwave oven, you can buy a special plastic card with a special film that you run along the edges of the door when the microwave is running, and it will detect any microwave leaks by changing color.

Answer 2

Microwaves ovens do not thoroughly flood the oven with microwaves. particularly, they leap and deflect off the partitions in waves. with the aid of fact micro organism are so very tiny, there is an possibility that the microwaves will in simple terms omit the micro organism, leaving them unhurt. it is the reason microwave ovens have a turntable - to be sure that the nutrition you're cooking is frivolously heated and has a great opportunity of being struck with the aid of the microwaves. there would additionally be an extremely small variety of extremophile micro organism that would stay to tell the story being hit with the aid of a microwave. Deinococcus radiodurans, to illustrate, can stay to tell the story interior the middle of an energetic nuclear reactor.

Answer 3

Just put your head inside a microwave oven and find out.

Answer 4

Yes indeed - but only if there is a radiation leak, or the door is rigged to stay open while running.

Answer 5

Yes. If you could keep it running and crawl in somehow, your internal organs would heat to a dangerous value and you would die.

Answer 6

Yes, if you find an oven where can fit inside.

Answer 7

It won't kill you straight away.
But prolonged exposure will damage your DNA.