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| Thread ID: 63103 | 2005-10-29 18:41:00 | Microwave risk | Greg (193) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 400264 | 2005-10-29 23:49:00 | Quote . . . There was a lawsuit in 1991 in Oklahoma . A woman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, but was killed by a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a microwave oven!" Logic suggests that if heating is all there is to microwave cooking, then it doesn't matter how something is heated . Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed, but not in microwave ovens . Does it not therefore follow that microwaving cooking does something quite different?That phrase has been plastered all over the internet, word for word . :rolleyes: If you microwave living cells, logic tells you this will be detrimental to those cells . This is often referred to as cooking, which is what you do to your food before eating it . Microwaves don't heat, they cook . I would be pretty annoyed to find my chicken only warmed but still raw if zapped in the Microwave . You are not talking about nuking a baked potato here . The Red blood cells got cooked, and a obvious outcome to being microwaved . Putting lysed RBC's into a patient would make them rather ill . . . You can read the actual case here ( . courts . state . wy . us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument . asp?citeID=4387" target="_blank">wyomcases . courts . state . wy . us) if you want to see the facts involved about in your quoted case . The Microwave didn't kill the patient, if that bag was put in a pot of boiling water to heat up the outcome would of been the same :) |
Jen (38) | ||
| 400265 | 2005-10-30 00:05:00 | which is why you wear a lead apron when microwaving :D | techiekid (7219) | ||
| 400266 | 2005-10-30 02:24:00 | Yes,that was not a good quote,so this more like what I have heard, Quote.... Reheating foods in a microwave oven probably doesn’t damage them, but if you cook protein-containing foods for more than 10 minutes, the microwave radiation might alter the chemistry of the proteins in unhealthy ways. The problem is not free radicals but deformed protein molecules, which have an unknown effect on health. Therefore, I recommend using the microwave only for defrosting or reheating foods rather than cooking. {Natural Health magazine, Dr. Andrew Weil, Nov./Dec. 1995} And so on. |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 400267 | 2005-10-30 07:37:00 | While this will not be a definitive scientific analysis, try putting a tablespoon of butter on top of your microwave; butter that is not frozen or from the frige but cool room temperature. Put a cup of water or whatever in the microwave and let it go for a few minutes. If the butter is not changed then I doubt that the capsicum was affected by leaked radiation. This wouldn't prove anything. As tweak'e said, most leaks are from the door seals and that is pretty rare. However, even with the leakiest door seals or a burned out waveguide, you wouldn't get radiation on top of the oven. Your capsicum problem is biological, not technological. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 400268 | 2005-10-30 10:14:00 | Your capsicum problem is biological, not technological. Cheers Billy 8-{)Dear Cheers Billy 8 - { ) The problem was NOT biological. Steve's test seems like a damn good idea. But it's already been indicated that the capsicum issue was heat induced, and that's about as conclusive as I need. |
Greg (193) | ||
| 400269 | 2005-10-30 17:38:00 | Boy, don't you know it . . . I'm gonna put in a point or two; Microwaves actually "cook" by exciting the water molecules in foodstuffs and that motion generates heat . Try to brown anything in a microwave . . . say a steak . . and it will heat up, turn ugly grey and if you leave it going long enough, it'll cook out all the water and the steak will resemble shoe leather . IT WILL NOT BURN UP, but it will rapidly dehydrate . However, once all the moisture is removed, there is a good chance of it immolating, (going on fire), because the next thing to heat is the fat and grease, and they become flammable at a point . Microwaves destroy the cell walls by raising the cytopressure above the capacity of the individual cell to remove . . . ergo, the living cells that are microwaved die from cellular explosion . Plasmoptic pressures above designed ranges will not vent out of the variably permeable cell wall quickly enough to save the cell from dying . They "steam" to death in their own juices . To prove this point to oneself, put one of the largest single-celled objects you commonly have into a microwave and turn it on . The common single-celled object is an egg . It will explode when the pressure exceeds the capacity of the shell to restrain it . Now, clean up the mess before your wife finds out . As for the "capsicum" or Bell pepper as we call them, they exhibit this same propensity to degrade while on the microwave or the counter top if they are left for an equal amount of time without refrigeration . Take that as a hint: Refrigeration staunches the decay of the pepper, so the effect HAS to be biological decomposure, not stray mutagenic microwaves . BTW: don't know about NZ produce-marketing strategies, but here in the US almost all of our fruits and vegetables are wax-coated to keep the natural moisture captive . This might be the corollary to the observation (originally) of the pepper LOOKING normal and then crumbling at touch . With almost all the moisture missing from inside the pepper, the thin shell of the outer and tougher (if not waxed) skin was the sole representative of a good-looking pepper . One might say it was a shell of it's former self . nyuck, nyuck, nyuck :lol: One interesting thing was also mentioned about "free-radicals" or so . Bacon (is that the correct NZ term?) is best NOT cooked in a frying pan, but in a microwave it's much healthier . The formation of nitrosomines (free radicals) is present whenever the cooking temperature of bacon exceeds a certain value which escapes me at the moment . Cooking in a microwave until crispy DOES NOT generate these same chemicals . You can cook bacon if you cover it with a moist paper towel to keep the splatter off the walls of the microwave . There are special-made platters that are just for cooking bacon available here in the US . They have a fluted base to keep the meat out of it's own juices and a cover that allows the radiation thru . (stepping off lecturn) Fun things to do in your microwave ( . student . utwente . nl/el/microwave/" target="_blank">margo . student . utwente . nl) |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 400270 | 2005-10-30 18:26:00 | Dear Cheers Billy 8 - { ) The problem was NOT biological. Steve's test seems like a damn good idea. But it's already been indicated that the capsicum issue was heat induced, and that's about as conclusive as I need. I think Surfer Joe has probably straightened out your thinking Greg, but biology is the science of physical life such as animals and plants, and includes the science associated with decay. Steve's suggestion relates to technical science and as such was not valid. Microwaves would not reach the top of your MW oven for more reasons that it is necessary to explain here. I wouldn't have offered the comment if I didn't know what I was talking about. In common with others on this forum, I have professional expertise in this area of technology. Puit quite simply, time, temperature and natural processes killed the capsicum. Chase phantoms if you wish, that is your right and privilege. Cheers Billy 8-{) :rolleyes: |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 400271 | 2005-10-30 19:12:00 | I wouldn't have offered the comment if I didn't know what I was talking about. In common with others on this forum, I have professional expertise in this area of technology. Puit quite simply, time, temperature and natural processes killed the capsicum. Chase phantoms if you wish, that is your right and privilege. Sorry, I didn't notice you here watching it for those two days. Healthy fresh capsicums don't normally rot over 48 hours. It was the heat alone that was the cause of it's premature demise. |
Greg (193) | ||
| 400272 | 2005-10-30 22:09:00 | To prove this point to oneself, put one of the largest single-celled objects you commonly have into a microwave and turn it on . The common single-celled object is an egg . It will explode when the pressure exceeds the capacity of the shell to restrain it . Now, clean up the mess before your wife finds out . That's something I found out quite unexpectedly a couple of months back . Staying in a hotel during a business conference, I made boiled eggs for breakfast, but when I topped the first egg, it hadn't cooked quite enough, with the white still too runny . So I had a "great" idea - run it through the microwave for a bit . 10 secs - no difference . Another 10 secs - no difference . Another 30 secs - open the door, and the egg exploded like a grenade, showering me in a fine rain of egg white, yolk and shell . Blast radius was about 2 metres from the microwave, all over the wall behind me (except for a person-shaped mask with no egg fragments, having been fielded by my unsuspecting body) . I learnt a valuable lesson that day - get someone else to open the microwave door when you're playing silly buggers . (oh, and learn how to count to 3 minutes when boiling eggs) Lizard |
Lizard (2409) | ||
| 400273 | 2005-10-30 22:29:00 | (oh, and learn how to count to 3 minutes when boiling eggs) Lizard Really? 2 minutes 18 seconds does me a perfectly cooked egg. |
bob_doe_nz (92) | ||
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