"Peter Hucker" wrote in message
newsp.tmvmmskc4buhsv@fx62...
On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:35:16 -0000, Snap Whipcrack..............
wrote:

Peter Hucker wrote:
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:49:43 -0000, Snap Whipcrack..............
wrote:

Peter Hucker wrote:
Is it really true that turning on a microwave with nothing in it will
break it?

Even more worrying - will it catch fire or explode?

Don't they have a safety cutout? Can't it sense the Klystron
overheating, or a build up of microwaves over a certain level?

I have purchased a new microwave which has an easier to grab control.
I'm concerned one of my pet parrots will switch it on! (Seriously, they do
stuff like that)

Microwave ovens don't care what you put inside. They do not have
feedback loops. You can cook a raisin or a melon or nothing at all.

But where do you think the power ends up if it is not absorbed?

Same question, where do the light waves go from the light inside the
microwave? Same energy, just higher frequency and lower power. Same
place as the microwaves.

Light is absorbed into all sorts of things. Microwaves are NOT absorbed
into anything inside the oven. They are reflected completely by the metal
sides.

not completly, even if they were silver coated it would still not be quite
100%,
it bounces back and forth so quickly eventually even the smallest loss gets
multiplied suficiently to absorb considerable energy.

Colin =^.^=