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| Microwave
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The Microwave
Oven (1946)
Like many of today's great inventions, the microwave oven
was a by-product of another technology. It was during a radar-related
research project around 1946 that Dr. Percy Spencer, a self-taught
engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, noticed something
very unusual.
He was testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, when
he discovered that the candy bar in his pocket had melted.
This intrigued Dr. Spencer, so he tried another experiment.
This time he placed some popcorn kernels near the tube and,
perhaps standing a little farther away, he watched with an
inventive sparkle in his eye as the popcorn sputtered, cracked
and popped all over his lab.
The next morning, Spencer decided to put the magnetron tube
near an egg. A curious colleague joined him, and they both
watched as the egg began to tremor and quake. The rapid temperature
rise within the egg was causing tremendous internal pressure.
Evidently the curious colleague moved in for a closer look
just as the egg exploded and splattered hot yolk all over his
amazed face. The face of Spencer lit up with a logical scientific
conclusion: the melted candy bar, the popcorn, and now the
exploding egg were all attributable to exposure to low-density
microwave energy. Thus, if an egg can be cooked that quickly,
why not other foods? Experimentation began.
Dr. Spencer fashioned a metal box with an opening into which
he fed microwave power. The energy entering the box was unable
to escape, thereby creating a higher density electromagnetic
field. When food was placed in the box and microwave energy
fed in, the temperature of the food rose very rapidly.
Dr. Spencer had invented what was to revolutionise cooking,
and form the basis of a multimillion-dollar industry, the microwave
oven.
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