RADIO DETECTION AND

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES RANGING.

Microwaves have
MICROWAVE short wavelengths and are
Microwaves are a type of wave that are in between reflected by small objects. This
radio waves and infrared waves on the electromagnetic property is used in radars. A
spectrum. radar system consists of an
Microwave frequencies can be as low as 300MHz and as
antenna, transmitter, and a
high as 300GHz. Their wavelengths can range from
one meter to one millimeter. receiver.
A cell phone is a radio transmitter and
DISCOVERY OF MICROWAVES receiver that uses microwaves.
1864 - Microwaves were first predicted by
James Clerk Maxwell by the use of his Cellular phones depend on overlapping network of cells
equations. or areas of land several kilometers in diameter. Each
1888 - Heinrich Hertz cell has its tower that receives and sends microwave
proved the existence of signals.
microwaves by building
a device that produced and detected Microwaves are used to transmit
microwave radiation. television news coverage from mobile
broadcast vehicles back to the station.
The news crew can also set up a small
1947 - the microwave oven was antenna to send signals to a communication satellite.
accidentally made BY Percy Spencer, This is how news are broadcasted and watched live
an engineer who was working at a
around the world.
radiation laboratory.
He investigated a radar because he IN A microwave oven, foods absorb certain
noticed that a candy bar in his pocket melted. microwave frequencies very strongly. The
heated popcorn kernels, which became the world’s first microwaves penetrate the food being heated.
microwaved popcorn
The first produced The microwaves heat food by causing water
microwave oven was about molecules in it to vibrate at very high frequencies and
6 feet tall and weighed eventually turn to steam which heats your food.
around 750 pounds. The
price tag on these ovens
was about $5000 a piece.

• Arno Penzias and Robert

Wilson, scientists at Bell Labs, made
an incredible discovery quite by
accident: They detected background
noise using a special low-noise
antenna.
HAZARDS
• they had serendipitously discovered the cosmic
microwave background radiation. - Radiation leakage
• This radiation, which fills the entire universe, is - Changes heart rate and blood
a clue to its beginning, known as the Big Bang. - Harmful to babies
• Penzias and Wilson were awarded the 1978 - Destroys nutrients in food
Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery. The - The human body cannot metabolize the
cosmic microwave background radiation has unknown by-products
since been mapped with great accuracy by - Microwave products can cause stomach and
satellites. intestinal problems
MICROWAVE USES Microwave radiation can heat body tissue the same way
- can penetrate the atmosphere of the it heats food. Exposure to high levels of microwaves can
earth. Communication cause a painful burn. Two areas of the body, the eyes
satellites travel around and the testes, are particularly vulnerable to RF heating
the earth at an altitude because there is relatively little blood flow in them to
of 35,000 km above the carry away excess heat. Additionally, the lens of the eye
equator. is particularly sensitive to intense heat, and exposure to
high levels of microwaves can cause cataracts. But these
- Microwave signals are transmitted by an antenna to a types of injuries – burns and cataracts – can only be
satellite which amplifies and re-transmits the signal to caused by exposure to large amounts of microwave
an antenna in other parts of the world. radiation.
MW- 2019- PCSHS