What are Microwaves?
Microwaves have wavelengths that can be measured in centimeters! The longer microwaves, those closer to a foot in length, are the waves which heat our food in a microwave oven.
Microwaves are good for transmitting information from one place to another because microwave energy can penetrate haze, light rain and snow, clouds, and smoke.
Shorter microwaves are used in remote sensing. These microwaves are used for radar like the doppler radar used in weather forecasts. Microwaves, used for radar, are just a few inches long.
A. Microwaves are very short waves of electromagnetic energy that travel at the speed of light (186,282 miles per second). As with electromagnetic radiation, there are ionizing and non-ionizing microwaves. The non-ionizing microwaves used in cellular telephones is the same type used in microwave ovens, televisions and radio communication. Ionizing radiation has a very high frequency and is therefore very powerful and penetrating, capable of changing the molecular structure of matter. Non-ionizing radiation operates at lower frequencies and reduced energy. Non-ionizing microwave radiation in sufficient intensity can cause molecules in matter to vibrate. These vibrations cause friction, which in turn cause heating. This is the basis for which microwave ovens operate and many scientists attribute as the cause of cellular phone heating of our tissue.
