Question Feeling microwave radiation

[willy88]

I know it's completely irrelevant to well, anything, but is it normal to be able to feel the EMR from a microwave oven? I don't feel like looking it up.

 

[MAraujo]

I think what you're feeling is infrared scatter

 

[Quick_Nick]

Not sure what you may feel, but: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/microwave-radiation-ovens-460709

 

[Andy44]

Woe, dude, sounds like time for a new nukriwave.

 

[willy88]

Woe, dude, sounds like time for a new nukriwave.

It's not just mine! I can feel them, man, all of them! But usually if they aren't brand-new...

 

[ar81]

I feel the force...

 

[Eagle]

It's not just mine! I can feel them, man, all of them! But usually if they aren't brand-new...

It could be you're responding to something else, or convince yourself that you're feeling something.

And yeah, I've known a few microwaves that seem a bit leaky. My solution: Go into the other room while cooking or take a few steps back and protect your goods.

 

[Dig Gil]

Maybe it's just vibrations from microwave oven's moving parts (that explains why is harder to feel brand-new ones). IMO it's not normal being able to feel microwave radiation.
You could make an experiment building a Faraday Cage around the oven (don't forget to ground well).
Other hypothesis is that you are sensitive to machinery's low frequency sound if that's true, then you would feel unwell near computers too. To test this, I would go to a room with all the cables unplugged and turned off computers, calculators, televisions, etc.... staying like that (sketching, playing cards, relaxing, solving any kind of paperwork, etc....) for some hours and see how it feels. IMO this last paragraph is a bit wild (and indeed taken from New Age'ers' beliefs) but it seems having at least a psychological impact to me.

 

[Usquanigo]

Maybe it's just vibrations from microwave oven's moving parts (that explains why is harder to feel brand-new ones). IMO it's not normal being able to feel microwave radiation.
You could make an experiment building a Faraday Cage around the oven (don't forget to ground well).
Other hypothesis is that you are sensitive to machinery's low frequency sound if that's true, then you would feel unwell near computers too. To test this, I would go to a room with all the cables unplugged and turned off computers, calculators, televisions, etc.... staying like that (sketching, playing cards, relaxing, solving any kind of paperwork, etc....) for some hours and see how it feels. IMO this last paragraph is a bit wild (and indeed taken from New Age'ers' beliefs) but it seems having at least a psychological impact to me.

Maybe he's a mutant. Anybody have Professor X's #? :blink:

 

[Quick_Nick]

My mom is somehow sensitive to electricity. She gets shocked really easily, electricity doesn't pass through her very well, and she can 'feel' lightning. I wouldn't expect the same thing with microwaves though, but I suppose it may be possible that you feel 'heat' beyond the normal infrared range. (not sure how likely that is though) Dig Gil's thought is certainly valid as well.
Here's something from Wikipedia:

Less-than-lethal weaponry exists that uses millimeter waves to heat a thin layer of human skin to an intolerable temperature so as to make the targeted person move away. A two-second burst of the 95 GHz focused beam heats the skin to a temperature of 130 °F (54 °C) at a depth of 1/64th of an inch (0.4 mm).

Of course, this is a far different frequency and surely much more powerful.

Edit: Pete's post sounds good too.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

I once felt a sort of "humming" sensation inside me, while standing near my microwave.

Upon closer inspection at a later date, I discovered that the microwave door had a crack in it..... h:

 

[Dig Gil]

(...) I discovered that the microwave door had a crack in it..... h:

Vibrations!

Sometimes we don't imagine how well materials can send vibrations to the floor and the skin of the feet receive them. Although more complicated to happen, even through the air.

If your mother is sensitive to electricity... I don't know... did she live on a rural area or something? Does that happens more in the summer? This is a strange to me. Anyway, just saying she is easily shocked means nothing to me, it normal to some people react intensely.

 

[willy88]

FYI it feels kinda like a cool breeze... if that makes it any clearer.

 

[DarkEnergy]

I don't think microwaves can displace air like that... Are you sure you are not just feeling the air from the multiple fans in most microwaves?

 

[willy88]

I don't think microwaves can displace air like that... Are you sure you are not just feeling the air from the multiple fans in most microwaves?

I don't think there are any fans on the front of microwave ovens...

 

[jedidia]

get yourself a tinfoil hat. Maybe that helps

On a more serious note, I once got to know someone who could feel electromagnetic fields on even a small scale. So microwave is not too far of.

 

[cjp]

I wouldn't be surprised if people can feel microwaves of sufficient power, especially the ones coming from microwave ovens.

The frequency used in microwave ovens is chosen such that water molecules (in the food) resonate on it, and heat up. If the radiation leaks out and reaches your skin, I can imagine it penetrates your skin deep enough to reach the water-containing parts of your body. I guess the 'dry' part of the skin is less than a mm deep.

The primary effect should be that it heats up the body, especially the skin. However, the effect can be very different on different positions, which probably gives it a bit 'weird' feeling. I can imagine, if this confuses the nerve system, it can feel like something else (like a cold feeling, or who knows what).

I never tried this, and to be honest, I don't want to. You never know what other effects there are.

 

[Dig Gil]

Then people with humid skin are those that feel microwaves right?

 

[cjp]

Then people with humid skin are those that feel microwaves right?

Maybe. Or people who pay more attention to small sensations. Or maybe people who happen to have slightly different genetics so that their nerve cells have different sensitivities.

 

[Dig Gil]

Excuse me if I'm being annoying or cynical but this looks like we are talking about psychic stuff like extrasensorial perception or something.