The effect of our Home Microwave on biological life forms

[hierarch]

Yeah, a friend of mine did a report on microwaves. He said that an ant won't die in the microwave because it's too small. Microwaves have more affect on larger objects because it uses waves. That's all I got out of his minute of spewing knowledge on the microwave.

 

I have a question, if that the ant escaped death is due to its small size, why could powder activated carbon be heated with microwave?

[YT2095]

it would cook from the inside and necrotise, gangrene would set in and you`de probably lose your hand. the radiation could cause dropouts and or corruption of the DNA that could result in cancer, some of this corrupt DNA in your blood would travel for a while around your body just before it coagulated an blocked the atreries and veins in your hand, but the vast majority would be destroyed outright.

yes you would feel it, a gentle heat for a half second, then unbearble pain, eventualy it would only hurt at the wrist where the cooked part meets the not so cooked part and still has viable nerve endings.

[swansont]

I know' date=' I'm sorry I didn't explain myself right. I know sunburn is radiation, I meant radiation more in terms of long-time damage, and ionizing radiation. You're right though. My bad.

 

So if I put my hand for 10 seconds in a microwave I won't die, and I won't have (I'm having torubles explaining what I mean.. err..) residue radiation .. like the one left after (its in much much bigger quantities i know, still) atomic explosion.

 

 

I think I need to read about waves and radiation again. I'll look it up on google ...

 

Thanks!!

 

~moo[/quote']

 

The stuff left over after a nuclear explosion is contamination (fallout) - radiaoctive particulates. Neutrons can also cause activation - change of isotope to something that's radioactive. Nothing like that happens with a microwave. At most there might be some chemical changes - a change in interaction because a molecule is in an excited state. But that's a bit of a stretch.

[YT2095]

and I forgot to add also that it would probably kill you through small blood clots breaking free as your heart was still beating at the time

 

how could I be so neglectfull! LOL )

[hierarch]

Yesterday I read a paper [D.A. Jones, T.P. Lelyveld, S.D. Mavrofidis, S.W. Kingman, N.J. Miles, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 34 (2002) 75–90] and the following words are quoted from it:

 

"An important characteristic of microwave heating is the phenomenon of ‘hotspot’ formation, whereby regions of very high temperature form due to non-uniform heating. This thermal instability arises because of the non-linear dependence of the electromagnetic and thermal properties of the material on temperature. The formation of standing waves within the microwave cavity results in some regions being exposed to higher energy than others. This results in an increased rate of heating in these higher energy areas due to the non-linear dependence."

 

And now, I would like to believe that the ant escaped death is due to the non-uniform heating of microwave, but not its small size.

[BrainMan]

It would be quite a coincidence if the ant in a spinning microwave just happened to travel from cold spot to cold spot as it span without entering one of these "hot spots". Or perhaps the outer shell of the ant protected it from the heat in these hot spots, and the ant never remained in them long enough to cook from the inside out.

[ydoaPs]

maybe the outside of the ant was dry, so it didn't attract the mwr as much

[aommaster]

Even though the outside is dry, the inside would have been heated up and the ant would be killed. The microwaves can penetrate through the ant's body.

[alt_f13]

Maybe the ant walked onto the plate after the microwave was opened.

[ed84c]

You cant kill ants in a microwave, i dont know why but i saw a progamme about a house that was invaded with ants. She a put a pizza (precovered in fire ants) not noticing this, into the microwave for 10 mins. When she picked it up. The fire ants got her.

[ed84c]

You cant kill ants in a microwave, i dont know why but i saw a progamme about a house that was invaded with ants. She a put a pizza (precovered in fire ants) not noticing this, into the microwave for 10 mins. When she picked it up. The fire ants got her.

 

THIS is probably for the same reason you cant kill cockroaches with gamma rays; why is that?

[swansont]

THIS is probably for the same reason you cant kill cockroaches with gamma rays; why is that?

 

Can't? I don't accept that without evidence. Do you have any?

 

As for the ants, many of the reasons why they would tend to survive have been discussed. Add to that: as the ants are small, they shed heat efficiently (large surfave/volume ratio), so any heating effects will be mitigated.

[ed84c]

Well its a 'well known fact'; ill google it for you see what i find

[swansont]

Well its a 'well known fact'; ill google it for you see what i find

 

I think that "cockroaches are very resistant to radiation" is a well-known fact. But that's not the same as saying you can't kill them with radiation.

 

Graphing radiation "killing curves" (Q5) implies that the researcher actually killed some roaches.

[ydoaPs]

u can kill ants in a microwave. put a microwave wafe container in the microwave and fill that container with butter. put the ant in the butter.

[ed84c]

have you never seen the fly?!

 

you might end up with a gaint ant able to despence a fatty dairy product through its mouth, i suggest for the health of the nation thereafter; we DO NOT deepfry ants.

[ydoaPs]

lolly roffles