What Are The Pros And Cons Of Microwave Ovens?

The microwave oven has become very popular in modern homes and has been widely used in daily life. As modern people’s time is getting less and less, sometimes it’s wasteful to dump leftovers. If you reheat the food in the pot, you will feel very troublesome. It is very time-consuming.

If you put it in the microwave oven at this time, the food can be fully reheated in just a few minutes. It not only realizes the environmental protection of resources but also makes life more convenient.

Below, let us look at the pros and cons of the microwave oven.

Why Can Microwave Oven Heat The Food?

Let us start with the water. The water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms, an oxygen atom. The oxygen atom is very attractive to electrons, so the electrons in the water molecule are concentrated at the end of the oxygen atom, and the corresponding hydrogen atom is less.

On the whole, water molecules have one with positive electricity and the other with negative electricity. Chemically, such molecules are called “polar molecules”.

In the usual water, the water molecules are arranged in disorder, and the positive and negative electricity is in any direction. When the water is in the electric field, the positive side will turn to the negative pole of the electric field, while the negative side will turn to the positive pole of the electric field.

If it is a static electric field, the water molecules will be quiet when they line up. If the electric field is constantly turning, the water molecules will follow and try to maintain a smoother formation with the electric field. If the electric field turns very fast, then the water molecules will turn very fast – similar to frictional heat, the temperature of the water rises.

Electromagnetic waves are equivalent to such a rotating electric field. The electromagnetic waves used in the microwave oven have to turn more than two billion laps per second.

The water molecules are following this speed, and naturally, they are “heated”, and the temperature rises sharply in a short time. Once the microwave stops, the rotating electric field disappears, the water molecules are quiet. In this process, the water molecules themselves are not altered by the microwave.

Not only water, but other polar molecules can also be heated by microwaves. Normal foods contain water and other polar molecules, so they can be heated quickly under the influence of microwaves.

Non-polar molecules, such as air, and certain containers, will not be heated. We usually feel that the container is hot after the food is hot, and it is often “hot” by the high-temperature food.

The Pros Of Microwave Oven

Heating and Defrost

Why is the microwave important? Because it brings a lot of convenience to our lives. They can also be used to heat leftovers. Many times just put them in the microwave. You can reheat the food with one click. The heating and defrost do not need any fire which saves time and avoids the trouble of smoke. In addition, it can ensure that the food is evenly heated.

Defrost in a microwave oven, the speed is fast. It is designed to minimize microbial growth during defrosting and to maximize the freshness of the food.

The new design microwave oven has a special defrost function that can inhibit the proliferation of microorganisms, thus achieving food preservation and health.

Cooking The Food

If used ingeniously, it can also be used to make a variety of bread, cakes, barbecues, etc. The food can be heated quickly inside the microwave oven. When heated, it does not transfer heat and lost some of the heat through the intermediate medium such as utensils.

The microwave can reach the surface and the inside of the food at the same time so the cooking time is obviously shortened. The cooking speed is fast and the heat is distributed evenly. Therefore, it can prepare the food faster and effectively shortening the cooking time.

Dehydrate And Sterilize

It also has the functions of drying, disinfecting, anti-mite and fresh-keeping. It can heat the food to evaporate a large amount of water, and dry or dehydrate some food. Since achieving mildew resistance, the food can be preserved for a longer period of time, especially for biscuits, cakes.

Do microwaves kill viruses? Use it to sterilize cookware such as bowls, chopsticks, plates, dishes, etc. Most germs will be killed. Soybeans, red beans, fungus, mushrooms, valuable Chinese herbal medicines, etc., after being treated in a microwave oven for a few minutes, will not cause mold and mildew.

You can also put the damp cigarettes and tea leaves in a microwave oven and heat them to restore the original.

No Smoke

Cooking food in a microwave oven does not produce any smoke in the kitchen, thus cutting off the main source of pollution in the home.

Save Time

Cooking food in a microwave oven is 4-10 times faster than using other stoves. For example, it takes only 1 minute to reheat the rice. It takes 4 minutes to make 300 grams of braised pork in a pot. It takes 8 minutes to make a kilogram of beef.

Heat Evenly

Traditional gas stoves and electric stoves radiate heat to the air and then pass it to the inside of the food. The heat is slowly transferred from the outside of the food to the center.

The heat generated by the microwave oven is completely and evenly transfer into the food. Therefore, the surface of the food heat quickly.

Energy Saving

Since it can achieve little or no energy loss, the energy required for cooking is also relatively reduced. Compared with other electric appliances, it can save 75%-50%.

Summary

It can food cooking, food thawing, dehydration, food preservation, sterilization, etc., as well as drying woolen sweaters, homemade dried flowers, making ceramics, boiled black tea juice, making food complex crisp, utensils disinfection, fried melon nuts, peeling vegetables, can make drugs such as anti-mite and mildew.

It is undeniable that the microwave oven has made a great contribution to today’s life. It has brought great help to everyone’s life. You can use it to cook food, quickly thaw, heat food and even bake a cake instead of the oven.

The Cons Of Microwave Oven

However, everything has two sides. The microwave oven also has some drawbacks. The harm should be more concerned. The following will tell you about the cons of the microwave oven so that everyone can understand more.

High Heat Hazard

Do microwaves destroy nutrients? Various fried and high-protein foods are harmful to the human body. Most of the dishes are heated in a microwave oven and the nutrients are lost. The food cooked in the microwave changes the minerals in the vegetables into free radicals that can damage human health, or turn into a composition that cannot be broken down by the body.

Radiation

Is microwave radiation harmful? The microwave oven itself has strong radiation, and the radiation around it is relatively strong, so it should not be too close when cooking. If during pregnancy, it is recommended to stay away from it.

The study found that some cancers are related to eating microwave foods. This may explain why the proportion of Americans with rectal cancer has increased so rapidly in recent years.

In real life, there are some accidents caused by fires from the microwave oven or leakage of the microwave oven.

Loss Of Water

The water inside the food will be lost a lot if heated in a microwave oven, which may affect the taste of vegetables and fruits. The food heated in the microwave oven should not be placed for too long. It is best to eat it within two hours.

Loss Of Nutrition

Food nutrition is seriously lost. Food cooked in a microwave oven will cause a lot of nutrients to be lost. Vitamins and nutrients will be greatly reduced. The body will have certain changes such as hormonal imbalance, lymphatic and digestive disorders, abnormal blood and immunity, depression, memory degradation, permanent brain damage, and even heart disease.

Carcinogenic Compound

Microwave foods produce carcinogenic compounds. Studies have shown that microwaved meat can produce carcinogens. Amino acids in milk, fruit, and cereals are also converted to carcinogens after microwaves. Plant alkaloids in vegetables can also be converted into carcinogens after microwaves to harm our health.

Precautions

If you want to use it safely, I think you have to read the following carefully.

Don’t Cook The Food For Pregnant Women Or Babies

Why you shouldn’t use a microwave? The food that pregnant women and babies shouldn’t cook by a microwave oven. It is best to heat or steam with water. Although this can shorten the cooking time, the bacteria in the semi-cooked food are not killed, even if put into the refrigerator, the bacteria will still grow.

Avoid Using Plastic Containers

Use a microwave-safe container to hold food in a microwave oven. The reason is hot food will deform the plastic container. Plastics will release toxic substances, contaminate food, endanger human health, and long-term will cause cancer. It is better to buy a container that is microwave-safe.

Avoid Using Metal Containers

We should use a container that is safe to heat food in the microwave oven. Metal containers are not suitable because of the iron, aluminum, stainless steel, enamel and other utensils in the microwave oven will generate electric sparks and reflect microwaves when heated. Not only the food cannot be cooked, but the microwave oven itself will also be damaged.

Avoid Using Closed Containers

A wide-mouth container should be used when heating anything because the heat generated by the food in the closed container is not easily dissipated.

The pressure inside the container is too high which may cause a blast. Even when boiling shelled food, the shell should be pierced with a needle or chopsticks in advance to avoid bursting, splashing and staining the wall, or splashing people.

Avoid Heating Overtime

The food is thawed or heated in a microwave oven. If you forget to take it out for more than 2 hours, you should throw it away to avoid food poisoning.

Avoid Heating The Meat To Half-Cooked And Then Heat It In A Microwave Oven

Because the bacteria still grow in the semi-cooked food, and when heated in the microwave for the second time, it is impossible to kill the bacteria because of the short time.

Avoid Freezing The Meat That Has Been Thawed In A Microwave Oven

Because the meat is thawed in the microwave oven, the outer layer has actually been heated at a low temperature. At this temperature, the bacteria can be propagated.

Although freezing can stop the reproduction, the live bacteria cannot be killed. Meat that has been thawed in a microwave oven must be heated to full ripe if you want to freeze in a refrigerator again.

Avoid Fried Food

A fire can occur due to the splashing of high-temperature oil. If you cause a fire in the microwave oven accidentally, do not open the door. Turn off the power first, then open the door and cool down after the fire is extinguished.

Avoid Placing The Microwave Oven In The Bedroom

Always place it in the kitchen and do not cover the external vent with any stuff.

Avoid Working In Front Of The Microwave For A Long Time

After turning it on, people should stay away from the microwave oven at least 1 meter especially if you are pregnant.

Don’t Cook The Egg

Eggs and foods in sealed packages cannot be cooked directly in order to avoid the explosion.

Placed In A Ventilated Place

Do not put magnetic substances nearby because it may interfere with the uniform state of the magnetic field in the microwave oven so that the working efficiency will be affected. Don’t too close to the TV and radio, otherwise, it will affect the visual and listening effects.

Do Not Turn On When There Is No Food

Don’t turn it on if there is no food inside. Otherwise, the magnetron will be damaged. In order to prevent inadvertent operation caused by the no-load operation, you can put a cup of water inside.

Do Not Take Out The Food Immediately

After the food is done, it is not advisable to take out the food immediately because there is still some heat inside, and the food will continue to be cooked. It should be taken out after 1 minute.

Do Not Rinse With Water

Always keep clean. After disconnecting the power, wipe it with a damp cloth and a neutral detergent. Do not rinse. Do not allow water to flow inside.

Periodic Inspection

Check the door and the lock if it is damaged or not. Otherwise, you shouldn’t use anymore to prevent microwave leakage. It is not advisable to keep the face close to the microwave observation window to prevent the eyes from being damaged by microwave radiation.

It is also not suitable to be exposed to microwaves for a long time to prevent symptoms such as dizziness, dizziness, fatigue, weight loss, and hair loss.

Microwave heating, carcinogenic?

Microwave heating is totally different than conventional heating because microwaves are a type of radiation, many people naturally think that it can cause cancer. It is an electromagnetic wave that is essentially the same thing as radio waves, infrared rays, and visible light used in radios and telegraphs. The only difference is the difference in frequency.

Microwaves have a higher frequency than electric waves and are lower than infrared and visible light. Radio waves and visible light do not cause cancer, and it is natural to understand that microwaves with frequencies between them are not carcinogenic.

In fact, the term “radiation” as used herein means that the energy of the microwave can be emitted, which is different from the radiation produced by X-rays and radioisotopes.

Although X-rays are also electromagnetic waves, their frequencies are much higher than those of microwaves, and therefore their energy is high. Radioactive isotopes emit particles during the decay process, so they can cause cancer to become cancerous.

Microwave, is it safe?

 

Scientists have done a lot of research for us to find the minimum microwave power that causes harm to the human body. In a good microwave oven, the leaked microwave power is far away from the strength of the human body.

The US regulations are that the power per square centimeter is less than 5 milliwatts at a distance of about 5 cm from the microwave oven. It is 1 milliwatt.

Moreover, the energy of the microwave is attenuated by the square of the distance. That is to say, if it is 1 mW at 5 cm, it will be reduced to 1 mW at 50 cm, and it is “human and animal harmless”.

Therefore, for a microwave oven, as long as it is a qualified product, there is no damage during use, and it will not leak microwaves that can harm the human body.

Another safety concern in the use of a microwave oven is the release of harmful substances from plastic containers. Indeed, some plastics may release harmful ingredients when heated.

The FDA has determined the number of harmful substances that various plastic containers may release into the food during normal microwave heating. This amount is required to be less than one-hundredth or even one-thousandth of the harmful dose determined by animal experiments before it can be labeled as “microwave heating”.

Therefore, it is quite safe for those qualified “microwave-safe” plastic containers. Of course, if you are still not at ease, or do not believe that the manufacturer’s label name is true, the use of ceramic or glass containers will be safe.

Where Does The Microwave Safety Incident Come From?

The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) said that it received many reports of “injury” due to the use of microwave ovens. However, these “accidents” are not related to the microwave oven itself but are caused by improper use.

As long as you understand and avoid the mistaken use of the microwave oven, there will be no accidents. The following are the two most common types of accidents:

The Liquid Is Overheated

When you boil the water in the traditional method, the water will flow. When it reaches the boiling point, it will flow. The microwave heating water does not flow, it is static, but the temperature rises. It is possible to exceed the boiling point and still static. But the water temperature at this time is already very high, and if there is a little disturbance, it will violently boil.

If this disturbance is generated when you go to get water, you will be burnt. The cleaner the container, the cleaner the water, the more likely it is to have such an accident. Therefore, in order to be safe, it is best not to test it to experience the “overheating” of hot water.

Other liquids, such as milk, soup, etc., because other ingredients do not easily overheat, but long-term heating is also easy to blast and rush out of the container. It is not impossible to use a microwave to heat these things but to calculate the heating time.

Eggs Explode

Microwave oven can’t heat eggs which is probably a common sense. The reason for the explosion of eggs is somewhat similar to the blast of water. The inside of the egg is overheated, the pressure is very high.

If it is disturbed by the outside world, the pressure is released, so the egg is exploded. If the explosion occurs when the egg enters your mouth, it is probably equivalent to put the firecrackers in the mouth.

International Safety Standards

According to the technical experts of the microwave oven, its leakage prevention is a technical problem that most manufacturers pay great attention to. Especially some international famous brands have developed some anti-leakage patent technologies, making microwave ovens a real safety product.

It is understood that the international standard has already set strict standards for the leakage prevention of microwave oven. Manufacturers of microwave oven have developed unique anti-leakage technologies.

Microwave ovens sold on the market are in compliance with relevant international safety standards in terms of anti-leakage. Unsafe microwave ovens cannot be listed, so you can use them with confidence. However, there are some taboos for the use of a microwave oven that cannot be ignored.

Although microwave oven is difficult to help us make delicious food, the convenience and speed it brings is its great advantage. For the elderly and children, using a microwave oven to heat hot meals is also safer than electric stoves or gas.

Conclusion

The above is about the pros and cons of the microwave ovens. In general, the pros of microwave ovens still more than the cons. With the advancement of technology, the functionality and safety of microwave ovens will become stronger and stronger.

Even so, I personally do not tend to use a microwave oven to cook food, and I am also very disgusted with microwave oven-cooked food. Although I have a microwave oven in my home, I have never used it.

I usually boil or steam because it is definitely healthy. Actually, if you have a food steamer in your home, steaming food is very convenient.

What do you think? Do you like to use a microwave oven? If you have any ideas or comments, please share them with us and I’d love to hear that.