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You are here: Home / Food / Can the Microwaves From a Microwave Oven Leak Out and Cook People?

Can the Microwaves From a Microwave Oven Leak Out and Cook People?

June 2, 2020 by Karen Hill

An old, beat-up oven with a warped door may indeed let enough microwaves out through the cracks to be a hazard, but there is extremely little leakage from today’s carefully designed ovens.

Moreover, the instant the door is opened, the magnetron shuts off and the microwaves disappear like the light when you turn off a lamp.

What about the glass door itself?

Microwaves can penetrate glass but not metal, so the glass door is covered with a perforated metal panel that lets light come through so you can see inside, but that the microwaves can’t get through because their wavelength (4¾ inches) is simply too big to fit through the holes in the metal panel.

There is no basis for the belief that it is hazardous to stand closer than several feet from an operating microwave oven.

Related Facts

  • How Do Microwaves Cook Food From the Inside Out?
  • How does an Oven Cook Food with Conduction, Convection, and Radiation?
  • Where Do Microwaves Come From?
  • Who Made the First Microwave Oven and When?
  • How Does a Light Oven Work?
  • Who Discovered Microwaves, Where Do Microwaves Come From, and How Are Microwaves Important In Astronomy?

Filed Under: Food

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Why Can’t You Put Metal Into a Microwave Oven?
Next Post: What Makes a Container Microwave Safe and Why Do They Still Get Hot? »

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