This is a change of pace ante, and for a change I do have some answers. How I came about to understand how microwave ovens work. It was many years ago and I was working as a labourer for a small electrical company for about three months, probably the most interesting and exciting job I have ever had, they also had a small electronic repair shop which had their first microwave oven come in for repair. There electronic technician had left some months earlier and they had employed a young electronic enthusiast until they could find someone qualified. As an interesting point, he was completely illiterate and he could outperform any electronic technician they new. Very encouraging for me ante. So they could not let their technician repair it, too dangerous and they were already taking a big risk letting him repair other equipment. One of the electricians had taken an interest on how microwaves worked. So it was the task of the qualified electrician and the electronic technician to fix it, and I was lucky enough to be able to offside, there was quite a lengthy discussion on how microwaves worked. So now that I board you ante :
, I will try to explain what I learned from them on how microwave ovens work.
The frequency of the microwave was chosen because it could penetrate matter to a certain degree. If the frequency was chosen to high or to low the microwaves would either pass through matter or penetrate very little, so a frequency somewhere in between that could penetrate to roughly a central point, of the type of matter that will be penetrated. which of course is different types of food water etc, now as I am to understand, it doesn't really matter the amount of power you apply to the frequency being radiated, within reason. The penetrating effect will be virtually the same. So cause and effect, the microwaves energy have penetrated matter to appoint where they can go no further. The molecules absorbed the energy from the microwaves causing them to vibrate, the friction of the molecules vibrating or rubbing against each other generating heat. so if you want a greater effect that is generate more heat, you apply more power to the same frequency. The same principle would apply to radar, the frequency is chosen to be able to penetrate matter reasonably well with as little effect on the molecules as possible, which in this case is the molecules/matter in the atmosphere, and also not to be able to penetrate other types of matter such as aircraft, in this case the signal will bounce back to be detected. So for radar to be capable of detecting aircraft over a great distances, you would need to apply more power to the chosen microwave frequency, because of the loss of energy absorbed by the matter/molecules in the atmosphere. Submarines also use radar and the same principle applies, although if they want to detect other submarines over a great distance, they would need an enormous amount of power due to the loss of microwave energy penetrating through the water.
Hopefully I'm not too far off the mark ;D.
