We are so used to using Microvawes in our house that we never pause to think if it has a radiation leak. As long as it it is warming the food efficiently, who cares right? You need to care as we can not see the radiation, but a radiation leak can have damaging effects on our health, especially our eyes.
The YouTube user “Physics Girl” has come up with a simple method to check the microwave for a radiation leak. But before we move onto that, we need to learn how a microwave works and you can learn about it in the video below:
Microwaves emit radiations in a specific band of electromagnetic frequencies the same way our cell phones do. That means if we place a cell phone inside the microwave and close the door, the signal should be blocked by the microwave shell.
This further implies that the phone should not be able to ring once inside the microwave. Physics Girl’s test revealed that it was true in some cases but in some cases, you could successfully call the phone. Microwaves use a Faraday cage, which shields anything inside it from an external electromagnetic field.
She carried her experiment further and tried the same with her friend’s microwaves and the result was the same. In some cases, the signal was shielded and in some cases, it wasn’t. She then set about to find where the leak came from.
She wrapped the whole microwave in aluminum foil and this successfully blocked out the signal. Then she started taking away the foils in some places to pinpoint the leak. The door was mostly the culprit. FDA regulations allow a small amount of leakage from microwaves, around 5mW/cm square.
This small amount of radiation does not damage your health but a slightly larger amount could be very harmful. The eyes are the most prone to these radiations and there could be formations of cataracts. Even though this small radiation leak is nothing to worry about, it is good to know if there is a leak and you can keep an eye on it to make sure things don’t get out of hand.
You can watch her experiment in the video below:
