Medical Uses Of Microwave Radiation

Have you ever been worried about using your microwave oven because you ve heard that it may harm you in some way.

Medical uses of microwave radiation. Microwave radiation can heat body tissue the same way it heats food. Microwaves are high frequency radio waves radiofrequency fields and like visible radiation light are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave ovens and health. The above broad definition includes both uhf and ehf millimeter wave bands a more common definition in radio frequency engineering is the range between 1.

The broad area of x ray use is called radiology. Microwaves do not use x rays or gamma rays and they do not make food radioactive. Different sources define different frequency ranges as microwaves. Or that it may destroy the micro some say that microwave radiation can damage one s genetics dna and subsequently cause cancer.

Microwave radiation coming out from radar and other equipment such as long distance telephone and television communication relay systems medical diathermic equipment and certain devices used for rapid cooking may cause corneal cataracts and testicular damage. When food absorbs microwaves it causes the water molecules in the food to vibrate which produces heat. Microwave ovens work by using very high levels of a certain frequency of rf radiation in the microwave spectrum to heat foods. Radiofrequency rf and microwave mw radiation are electromagnetic radiation in the frequency ranges 3 kilohertz khz 300 megahertz mhz and 300 mhz 300 gigahertz ghz respectively.

Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter. Two areas of the body the eyes and. They are also. Microwaves are used primarily for tv broadcasting radar for air and sea navigational aids and telecommunications including mobile phones.

Medical applications of microwaves i e a possibility to use microwave energy and or microwave technique and technology for therapeutic purposes are a quite new and a very rapidly developing field. Within radiology we find more specialized areas like mammography computerized tomography ct and nuclear medicine the specialty where radioactive material is usually injected into the patient. The most well known is using x rays to see whether bones are broken. Exposure to high levels of microwaves can cause a painful burn.

There are many uses of radiation in medicine. The varian boys out of stanford microwave hall of famers pretty much made medical linear accelerators the mainstay of cancer treatment with their research in the 1940 s eclipsing the use of active cobalt 60 radiation sources with a much more controllable and power off safe radiation source.