Invention of the Microwave Oven
Today was the day, in 1955, the microwave oven, for home use, was introduced by The Tappan Company. A microwave oven, or simply a microwave, is a kitchen appliance that cooks or heats food by dielectric heating. This is accomplished by using microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within the food. This excitation is fairly uniform, leading to food being more evenly heated throughout (except in dense objects) than generally occurs in other cooking techniques. The use of high-frequency electric fields for heating dielectric materials had been proposed in the 1930s.
Do these look familiar? I remember when the first home microwaves were introduced. They were very expensive. Now, you can pick a small one up at Walmart for less than $100.
The heating effect of microwaves was discovered accidentally in 1945. Percy Spencer was working on an active radar set when he noticed that a peanut chocolate bar he had in his pocket started to melt. The radar had melted his chocolate bar with microwaves. The first food to be deliberately cooked with Spencer’s microwave was popcorn, and the second was an egg, which exploded in the face of one of the experimenters.
My house is on its third microwave. I blew one up by putting a foil wrapped burger in it. Not good. The second one died of old age. I like my new one because it has setting for different foods. If I want to pop some popcorn, I select the popcorn button. Easy peasy.
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