Microwave weapons in Iraq.

[Boo Radley]

"Todays War on Terror is being brought to you by the good folks at Home Depot."

[Nidan1]

Boo , take my advice and stay out of these high-tech, very contentious threads....they are way over your head.

[lucero1148]

Anyone remember the security guard who won the Darwin Award for parking himself in front of a communications microwave attenna a few winters back with a six pack and a tv set to while away the night? I believe he was found well done but not very crispy.

[Maj Kong]

I saw the funding request for USMC ADS. The picture shows the HMMWV with dish on top but the infantry weapons officer said they neglected to show the two huge immobile generators hooked up to power it.

[Dirtweasle]

Originally posted by Peter Cairns:

As to cooking internal organs, things only heat from the inside out in microwaves becuase they are deflected by the sides of the oven and as such more go through the centre of the oven than anywhere else, so that is where the greatest heat effect takes place, as opposed to the corners.

BTW - That is not true of microwave ovens. You can test this yourself with any cheap cut of meat. In the case of meat the radio waves penetrate and cooked the outside inch or so, then the center is cooked primarily by the heat from the outside.

...just happen to catch this on an episode of Mythbusters last night.

[Peter Cairns]

Dirtweasle,

No it is true, sure some of the radio waves are absorbed by the meat, but the stuff at the centre of the oven still cooks faster as it is at the focal point, just like a magnifying glass burns things.

Put a large steak flat in a microwave and I bet the centre is cooked solid long before the edges.

Peter.

[Dirtweasle]

Forget about a flat steak, the radio waves do penetrate an inch or so into meat, so take a thick roast and try it. I should've been more precise when I said any cheap cut and wrote a cheap think roast.

Using a thin steak does not prove your point it simple proves that you've chosen something too thin as the radio waves are able to penetrate the whole piece if it is not thick enough.

Micorwave ovens do not cook from the inside out it's an old wive's tail.

Do the experiment with a thick roast ...or you could do a google on MICROWAVE MYTHS.

[Wicky]

A few years ago I knew a learning difficulties client who liked the sound of the 'ping' of the microwave oven so he used to put his head right up to the door as it was cooking. Even though the door has a diffraction grid on it to contain the radiation I warned management of the dangers of his habitual fixation.

Sadly they chose to ignore the problem and not surprisingly the next time I met him he was even more impaired, in a wheelchair and blind.

[Peter Cairns]

I never said they cock from the inside out, I said things in the centre cook faster than things at th edge, thats why the rotating ones are better, as they move the meat rather than have it all on the same spots all the time.

The comment on cooking from the inside out was made by someone else.

Peter.

[Dirtweasle]

OK fine, take a cheap thick roast, put it in the MW oven and heat the thing up, (aka cook it). At periodic intervals stop the process and measure the temp with a probe at various points and various depths. Repeat as needed untill you understand your are wrong.

Microwaves heat food, or cook as we say, by agitating molecules on the outter portion of food with radio waves, the heat is carried from the outside to the middle.

[Peter Cairns]

Dirtweasle,

And if you do the exact same thing and check the surface temperature of a steak at the edge and the centre, you will see that the centre is hotter.

I have no and never did say it heats from the inside out, only that more radiowaves get focused at the centre at than at the edges.

There are TWO things at work here, the focus of the radio waves and the amount of penetration of the material. The surface of a uniform material will get hotter the closer it is to the centre.

If it is a brick little will penetrate but the narrow sides nearer the centre will still get hotter than the further from the centre ends. because they will get hit by radio waves more often as they are closer to the focal point where the radiowaves converge.

If it is a large flat dish of custard, with little ability to stop penetration and no real convection current to disperse heat, then the centre will boil before the rim, again because thats where the radio waves are focused.

You people really seem to struggle when you have to deal with more than one concept at the same time.

Peter.

[Abbott]

I like KFC original recipe and insurgents extra crispy.

[meyerpflug]

Originally posted by Peter Cairns:

I never said it was a good idea, I just asked if anyone knew the current satus of the project and where it was going.....

Peter,

Here's an update.

Directed Energy Weapons Face Hurdles

This article has a good scenario example of how "Less Lethal" weapons are to be combined and used.

Albert

[GSX]

I'm sorry what with a weapon and ammo, 3 days rations, CBA and various other loads I'm just not prepared to carry a Microwave on my back as well. Sure it will allow me to eat sooner, but surely the weight outwieghs the advantage, that and having to find a UK compliant 3 prong 240 a/c plug to stick it in!

[John Kettler]

Wicky,

The problem you describe probably had nothing to do with the containment grid and everything to do with the RF gasket sealing the door to the oven, which deteriorates over time. If the unit in question looked anything like any number of institutional microwave ovens I've seen, then it probably leaked microwaves at measurable levels. As you know, radiation exposure is cumulative.

Regards,

John Kettler

[karch]

Peter, I saw the same Mythbusters show. They took a medium sized piece of frozen meat and put it into a microwave for a few minutes. Don't remember, maybe 3-4. When they took it out the center was either frozen or still very cold to the touch, and the exterior was bubbling hot. The radio waves cant penetrate that far or most of them are absorbed by the outer layer. The inside seems to be heated by a combination of the residual radio waves that make it to the center and through radiation of the surrounding hot meat.

Test it yourself.