Fun Stuff > CHATTER
A Life of Comfort and Ease (Under Appreciated Modern Conveniances)
Pilchard123:
There's something I've never got about the name *micro*waves. The microwave band actually contains the second- (or possibly third-, if you give radio an upper bound) longest EM radiation, after radio waves. They don't even get down to micrometer wavelengths, stopping at 1mm.
LTK:
Pilchard's right, microwaves are really long. Even visible light is measured in nanometers, and they get much smaller than that.
Papersatan:
The OED tells me Micro is reference to their small size relative to radio waves.
LTK:
That explains it! Radio engineers just had a limited perspective. :lol:
Akima:
The term microwave came into use in the 1930s when "short wave" radio was so called because the wavelength was less than 200 metres. By contrast microwave wavelengths are less than 0.3m, and ovens use about 0.1m, so you can see where the micro comes from.
The cavity-magnetron in my oven is a remarkable case of swords into ploughshares. Once a top-secret piece of military radar technology, now it heats my soup!
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