Microwaves

[karenmac60]

Ok, this is going to sound daft. I was making dinner the other night and I put stuff in the microwave. I stood at the cooker about a foot to the right of the microwave, keeping an eye on the stuff on the cooker. After 4 or 5 minutes the microwave pinged, but the food was stone cold. Within a few minutes I started getting a splitting headache on the left side of my head, the little vein was all popping at my temple, and the side of my face was really hot. 4 days later and it still feels like mild sunburn although it's not red - have I cooked my own head?

[boxtops]

I would not have thought so... my microwave did that a couple of weeks ago, it went round and pinged but nothing heated up. The engineer said it was the transformer in the machine which had gone. It was cheaper to buy a new one than get it repaired. I hope that your headache etc was just a coincidence - it sounds like the pain and sensations I get when my sinuses are really bad.

[society]

karenmac60, if I hadn't read sane post on here by you, I'd conclude that this is a win-up.

What are you saying... you think you microwaved the left side of your head? Impossible... All this strange sensations in your head and you haven't visited a doctor?

[Captin Kirk]

cut us a slice and I'll let you know ... :-)

[dothawkes31]

you probably set the microwave to defrost you numpty and the 'ping' was your suzzies snapping tut

[society]

You may have powers! I think you may have turned into G-Girl. Put both arms together, lift them over your head and spin around, see if you could rise up in the air like G-Girl.

[karenmac60]

I remember when I first got a microwave, reading the manual and it said not to run it with nothing in it as there was nothing to absorb the microwaves and they would escape into the room when you opened the door. If there was a break in the seal of the door, would it not be possible for microwaves to leak out into the room and be absorbed by the closest thing - me?
I'm not worried about it, I think any exposure would have been minimal, I was just wondering if it was possible.

[boxtops]

The manuals do say not to operate it if the seals are broken but I don't think there is a serious suggestion that the waves fall out after you open the door if you've run it emply. I believe (and I am no scientist) that the danger is gone once the thing has pinged off and it's stopped microwaving.
My grandma used to believe that if you left an electric socket switched on, all the electricity would just leak out into the room. We know that's not true (but it's a good ruse to get people to flick the switches off!) but it's a good un.
How are you feeling today?

[karenmac60]

My cheek is still feeling wind burned or something, but apart from that I'm fine. Bare in mind that microwaves are a form of radiation, not like electricity, and although they are no longer being produced once the microwave has stopped, the ones which have been produced don't cease to exist. If they aren't absorbed by the food in the oven, they have to go somewhere.