"Bob" wrote in message
...

"machinesmith" wrote in message
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This is probably a stupid question, but when you have the microwave going
and you disable the door open switch so the microwave doesnt go off when
you open the door while its running what happens?

Not a very smart thing to do, but.....

There's an issue of distance. At a couple of feet, you're likely to feel
warmth. Closer, and you will sense the RF as heat ranging somewhere from
really hot to boiling the moisture and fat in your body. At about 4 feet
from the opening of the waveguide, the levels are down to about 5 mw/cm3,
which is the limit for a "controlled environment" Your eyes, and other
"enclosed, fluid filled" organs are most sensitive. Short of having your
head in the oven, it's likely that you'll move away from it before
anything really serious happens, as it will feel like you're in .... well,
an oven. I've read further down in the thread, and cancer was mentioned.
While RF energy can cause damage as a result of exposure, cancer is NOT
one of the results.

The other half of the equation is the electronic control panel for the
oven. Exposing the panel to a bunch of RF from an open door oven is likely
to give it a serious headache, and probably will put it to sleep, shutting
down the RF, but, maybe not.


Cataracts can occur at very low exposure rates!!!

Most people probably wouldn't experiment with their shiny new push button
microwave, more likely they'd wire up the interlock on an old manual oven
which would be easier to tamper with and less likely to fail due to RF
energy!