History of the microwave oven

Did you know that the microwave oven was created by mistake?

As a matter of fact, this revolutionary tool was brought to life unintentionally. The man behind the microwave is known by the name of Percy Spencer. Soon after the death of his father, his mother abandoned him at an early age. He started working at a spool mill at he age of twelve and was interested in everything related to electricity. His curiosity lead him to be hired, along with two other people, to install the electricity in the plant. After that, he started working with the US navy and became an important pillar in this domain. He learned on his own calculus, physics, wireless communication and other important subjects. One day, Spencer noticed that the candy bar he had in his pocket melted while he was working with radar. This phenomenon caught his interest. He tried to put popcorn in contact with radar and this is how he created the first microwaved popcorn and later on the first microwave oven! 

Advantages of microwave ovens

The microwave conveyed numerous pros. To start with, the microwave oven aids in the reduction of energy and time consumption. It has been shown that cooking in a microwave is approximately four times faster than in a gas stove, thus time and energy will be reduced by that amount. 

Also, the utensils used to heat the food don't get heated too, which means that it is easy to hold them after cooking without the risk of getting burns. Last but not least, the market has adapted to this type of tool and is now offering “done meals” that only need a few minutes in the microwave to be ready to eat. This provides students and other busy people who don't have the time to cook an easy way out! 

Disadvantages of microwave ovens

On the other hand, just like any other new innovative tool, the microwave has few disadvantages. In fact, this type of oven cannot be used for everything. You can heat but not cook all the different types of food in the microwave such as pasta or foods that need to be deep-fried for instance. Also, you cannot introduce any type of container into this oven or else you will be increasing the chances of getting unwanted and harmful chemicals trapped in your meal; plastic for example is to be avoided. Finally, the radiation they emit might cause damage if you stand in front of the microwave while it is in use. However, if you use it properly and follow the manual of usage, you should be safe.

Myths and facts

It is important to separate myths from facts! 

Those are few commonly asked questions regarding the microwave. 

1-    Is it true that the microwave destroys the nutrients of your food? 

In fact, this is not an accurate statement. It is true that while cooking you might lose some important vitamins and other nutritional compounds but this happens with any type of cooking oven! It has been shown that cooking in a microwave might not be the worst tool since it exposes the food to a reduced time of heat and does not require a lot of water which means that the destroyed nutrients are limited compared to other traditional method. 

2-    Does cooking in a microwave allow for low fat cooking?

This is true! In fact, cooking in a microwave oven has been shown to be a good way to avoid the usage of oil and butter as cooking media, which would contribute to the increase in fat of your meal! 

Interesting facts

Interesting facts about the microwave:

*    The first microwave to be conceived was sold at 5000$, was 6 feet tall which is approximately the height of a refrigerator and weighted 750 pounds on average! 

*    It is usually a bad idea to turn a microwave on without any food inside. In fact, the microwaves released will not be absorbed and hence they will be reflected in the microwave and this can eventually disrupt it. 

*   What is it that stops the microwaves released in the oven from cooking you? In fact, the window that you see on the front of your microwave has on the inside a metal mash. This mash contains small holes that are sized in a way that does not allow the standing waves from passing through, thus they get reflected back inside the oven. The visible light on the other hand can go through the holes, which is why you can see inside.  

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