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Revelation

July 9th, 2008 at 02:16 pm



Last month, our electric bill was $30 cheaper than normal. I couldn't figure out why and thought it was a mistake that would be corrected this month. So when I checked our June bill yesterday, I noticed that even with fans going constantly, it was still almost $30 below normal. I have been unplugging some of the kitchen appliances when not in use as a course of habit lately, but that could not possibly cut $30 off of an electric bill.

Then I had a revelation. There is a lot of cancer in my family and I stopped using the microwave after reading some things about it changing the atomic composition of our food (as that is how the microwave works--something with particles moving, etc). Call me crazy, but hey, I prefer the taste of oven heated food now anyway. The chemistry teacher at school asked if anyone had microwaves to spare for an experiment she was doing. I gladly lent mine and told her not to worry about returning it right away as we never use it. I forgot to bring it home. It has not been plugged in our kitchen for two months now, if not more. We never used it, so it wasn't useage causing the high charges, it was that darn microwave clock! $30 per month for a darn microwave clock!

10 Responses to “Revelation”

  1. PauletteGoddard Says:
    1215609982

    Interesting. I was considering using my microwave MORE to cut down on the natural gas bill. There is a lot of cancer in my family too, but I'm tending to believe in our case it's the lack of sunlight, northern latitude and Type A personalities who didn't learn how to cope with stress.

    My electrical utility bill went down by sixty-nine cents.

  2. merch Says:
    1215614196

    The microwave oven consists of a magnetron tube, which converts electricity into high frequency microwaves. Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic energy, like light waves or radio waves, and occupy a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwaves cause food molecules to vibrate rapidly, creating friction that produces heat which then cooks the food. In other words, food cooked in a microwave simply absorbs microwave and turns their energy into thermal energy, which cooks the food. Microwaves are colourless, odourless, tasteless, and these are not radioactive.

    A small amount of microwaves won't hurt you. Microwaves are anyways present all around us, in the form of satellite transmissions, cellular telephones, and even by the thermal radiation from our surroundings. A properly constructed microwave does not leak any microwaves.

    source: http://www.sysindia.com/kitchen/microwave.html

  3. Ima saver Says:
    1215614678

    microwaves cost only cents a month to operate. I have one of those watt things that measures energy and I check. Want to lower your electric bill; turn off your hot water heater when you are not using hot water.

  4. merch Says:
    1215615300

    Let's start with the differences in types of radiation. Basically, anything that moves is radiation, from visible light, to ultraviolet, to X-rays, to microwaves, to alpha particles, to neutrons, and even to flying pigeons. These different radiations do different things when they hit you, particularly the pigeons. While "ionizing radiations" such as X-rays, ultraviolet, alpha particles, and neutrons usually have enough localized energy to do chemical damage to the molecules they hit, "non-ionizing radiation" such as microwaves and pigeons do not damage molecules. When you and your organic friend worry about toxic changes in food or precancerous changes in your tissue, what really worry you are molecular changes. Microwaves and pigeons don't cause those sorts of changes. Microwaves effectively heat food or tissue thermally, while pigeons bruise food or tissue on impact.

    Wearing a lead apron while working around ionizing radiation makes sense, although a simple layer of fabric or sunscreen is enough to protect you from most ultraviolet. To protect yourself against pigeons, wear a helmet. And to protect yourself against microwaves, use metal. The cooking chamber of the microwave oven is a metal box (including the screened front window). So little microwave "radiation" escapes from this metal box that it's usually hard to detect, let alone cause a safety problem. There just isn't much microwave intensity coming from the oven and intensity matters. A little microwaves do nothing at all to you; in fact you emit them yourself!

    If you want to detect some serious microwaves, put that microwave detector near your cellphone! The cellphone's job is to emit microwaves, right next to your ear! Before you give up on microwave ovens, you should probably give up on cellphones. That said, I think the worst danger about cellphones is driving into a pedestrian or a tree while you're under the influence of the conversation. Basically, non-ionizing radiation such as microwaves is only dangerous if it cooks you. At the intensities emitted by a cellphone next to your ear, it's possible that some minor cooking is taking place. However, the cancer risk is almost certainly nil.

    Despite all this physics reality, salespeople and con artists are still more than happy to sell you protection against the dangers of modern life. I chuckle at the shields people sell to install on your cellphones to reduce their emissions of harmful radiation. The whole point of the cellphone is to emit microwave signals to the receiving tower, so if you shield it you spoil its operation! It would be like wrapping an X-ray machine in a lead box to protect the patient. Sure, the patient would be safe but the X-ray machine would barely work any more.

    Returning to the microwave cooking issue, once the food comes out of the microwave oven, there are no lingering effects of its having been cooked with microwaves. There is no convincing evidence of any chemical changes in the food and certain no residual cooking microwaves around in the food. If you're worried about toxic changes to your food, avoid broiling or grilling. Those high-surface-temperature cooking techniques definitely do chemical damage to the food, making it both tasty and potentially a tiny bit toxic. One of the reasons why food cooked in the microwave oven is so bland is because those chemical changes don't happen. As a result, microwave ovens are better for reheating than for cooking.

    source: http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/HTW/microwave_ovens.html

  5. Aleta Says:
    1215619907

    One of the cell companies wanted to put up a new transmitting station and the neighborhood went to the county and had different experts speak. This was near me as a matter of fact. One expert witness was a well-known pediatrician in our city and he said that the first thing that he advised the parents of his patients was to take the microwave out of the house. The cell phone company couldn't build their station because it was turned down.

    I went to a holistic doctor that believed that microwaves change the DNA in the food.

    I use mine mostly as a bread box. I occassionally use it. I also don't use my cell phone for long periods either. I don't have an Ipod, but if I did - I wouldn't use it for extended periods.

    I have read that microwaves use more electricity (watts). Cooking for a shorter amount of time could save you money but if you used it for everything it might not be so.

    My brother used to use the microwave for everything. He stopped because he became concerned about his three kids health. They even made hotdogs in there.

  6. merch Says:
    1215621762

    Cooking over a grill changes the chemical make up more then a microwave. As long as the screen on the front of the microwave is not torn, the microwaves will not escape the microwave, which are not ionized.

    As for cell phones, they are made to emit mocrowaves in the free area. By your logic of not using them, you should also not be near any that are turned on or in use near year or be in an are that has cell phone reception.

    I don't know if I would call a pediatrician an expert on microwaves. I would need to see his engineering degrees. It is like saying I had a physicist from MIT give me an expert opinion on heart surgery. an expert in one field does not necessarily denote and expert in another.

    But I think the big issue I have, just in general, is people take things they hear over and over again and except them as fact without understanding or researching an issue.

  7. Aleta Says:
    1215627128

    Merch: What do you mean by the screen being torn? The problem is that it would be good to know if your microwave was not working properly.

    Of course all of this is controversial. The pediatrician just spent alot of time learning and researching about the effects of many types of currents that we are exposed to. I suppose it's like anything - moderation in all things.

    You do have a vast knowledge of the subject and I thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

  8. aevans1206 Says:
    1215634320

    I haven't really used the microwave since January. I attribute the lower electric bill to not having the microwave plugged in. I think I've read elsewhere on this site that those stinking leakers are what drive up our electric bill costs and I was excited to see that it's true! I can think of no other earthly reason my bill would go down so much.

    As to the cancer causing controversy, I am skeptical of just about everything. My cell phone is never plastered to my ear (usually only used in a pinch). I feel like we should all go back to living like Little House on the Prairie times, but they had cancer then too Smile I guess having so many people close to me ill with the disease, it just makes me hypersensitive about it.

  9. PauletteGoddard Says:
    1215638818

    I guess having so many people close to me ill with the disease, it just makes me hypersensitive about it.
    Oh me too. Why do you think I eat organic, whole, natural foods and take tons of anti-oxidants?

  10. boomeyers Says:
    1216002545

    I could handle the Little House on the Prarie times as long as I could have A/C!

    My microwave is plugged into a cabinet over the stove and is too high and hard to get to, so unplugging is out of the question. We use it for reheating and popcorn.

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