{"id":1361,"date":"2014-12-04T18:15:48","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T18:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2014-12-05T17:21:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T17:21:57","slug":"get-cooking-saturday-is-microwave-oven-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/get-cooking-saturday-is-microwave-oven-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Cooking; Saturday is Microwave Oven Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Radarange\"<\/a>
Raytheon’s Radarange. Source: How the microwave oven became a super success (http:\/\/www.marketingvp.com\/guests\/globe\/oven.htm)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1942, while Dr.Percy Spencer was testing\u00a0a magnetron<\/a>,\u00a0a candy bar in his pocket melted. This was\u00a0Dr. Spencer’s ‘aha moment’ when he realized that\u00a0radioactive beams\u00a0can cook food.\u00a0The Raytheon Company<\/a>\u00a0filed a patent application for Spencer\u2019s invention on October 8, 1945. Then the\u00a0company\u00a0built the\u00a0first commercially available microwave oven calling it the Radarange. It\u00a0debuted in 1947 standing six feet tall and weighing over 700 pounds.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Obviously, this behemoth model did not become popular in the average American home. However, during\u00a0the 1970s, smaller “electronic\u00a0ovens”\u00a0started to make their way into\u00a0the ordinary kitchen.\u00a0At first, they were used reticently because\u00a0the radioactive\u00a0waves were considered harmful.\u00a0However, the convenience of microwave cooking\u00a0outweighed the fear factor. During the 1980s, the market was saturated with microwave cookbooks and products such as microwave bacon trays. Even Dire Straits references the kitchen appliance in Money for Nothing<\/a>. <\/em>Today’s\u00a0average microwave\u00a0cooks between 1000-1200 watts and is America’s sweetheart appliance for fast and convenient\u00a0defrosting of frozen foods, rewarming of leftovers, or popping of\u00a0corn. Bon app\u00e9tit!<\/p>\n

How does\u00a0a microwave oven work? \u201cA microwave oven produces high-frequency electromagnetic waves. Passing through food, the waves reverse polarity billions of times a second. The food’s water molecules also have polarity, and they react to each change by rapidly reversing themselves. Friction results, heating the water and cooking the food.2 <\/sup>For a visual explanation, watch the video, “How a Microwave Oven Works”<\/a> by Bill Hammack from the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"US<\/a>
Spencer, Percy L. Method of treating foodstuffs. U.S. Patent 2,495,429, filed October 8, 1945, issued January 24, 1950.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1<\/sup> National Microwave Day <\/a>(December 6, 2009)<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> Langone, John. How Things Work: Everyday Technology Explained<\/span>. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2006, p.14.\u00a0Engineering Library\u00a0T47 .L2923 2006<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/sup> Spencer, Percy L. Method of treating foodstuffs. U.S. Patent 2,495,429, filed October 8, 1945, issued January 24, 1950.<\/a> Source: Google Patents<\/p>\n

Books and Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crupi, Giovanni, Editor. Microwave De-Embedding: From Theory to Applications<\/span>. Waltham, MA: Elsevier\/Academic Press, 2014. Engineering Library TK7876 .M53 2014<\/a><\/p>\n

Hwang, Ruey-Bing. Periodic Structures: Mode-Matching Approach and Applications in Electromagnetic Engineering<\/span>. Singapore: Wiley, 2013. Engineering Library TK872.F5 H93 2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Maas, Stephen A. Practical Microwave Circuits<\/span>. Boston: Artech House, 2014. Engineering Library<\/a>\u00a0(on order)<\/p>\n

Pozar, David M. Microwave Engineering, 3rd<\/span>. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley, 2005. Engineering Library TK7876 .P69 2005<\/a><\/p>\n

Rohde, Ulrich L. RF\/Microwave Circuit Design for Wireless Applications, 2nd<\/span>. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2013. Engineering Library TK7876 .R65 2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Subcommittee F02.15 on Chemical\/Safety Products microwave oven standards <\/a>(Source: ASTM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1942, while Dr.Percy Spencer was testing\u00a0a magnetron,\u00a0a candy bar in his pocket melted. This was\u00a0Dr. Spencer’s ‘aha moment’ when he realized that\u00a0radioactive beams\u00a0can cook food.\u00a0The Raytheon Company\u00a0filed a patent application for Spencer\u2019s invention on October 8, 1945. Then the\u00a0company\u00a0built the\u00a0first commercially available microwave oven calling it the Radarange. It\u00a0debuted in 1947 standing six feetContinue reading “Get Cooking; Saturday is Microwave Oven Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"syndication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}