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From a sanitation perspective, and without the effect actual heat, how much exposure to microwaves (domestic oven type) can airborne organisms (yeast/lacto types) handle?

Cheers

Lloydie

NFI- I've always relied upon the thermal effect of microwaves, an excellent question though.

What are you nuking Lloydie, hops?

I don't really know but I would suggest that if you don't consider the heating effect of the microwave, then think of the effect of a microwave as being like that of a radio wave. It's going to do bugger all by way of sanitising something.

I think the only way a microwave would help to sanitise something would be from its heating effect.

I think this based on the fact that a microwave is in between radio waves and infrared radiation (that is, heat waves). Hopefully someone else might know a bit more about this.

Microwaves emit the needed wavelength to give water rotational energy (but not translational or vibrational, which is why stove heated water stays hot for much longer). As such, they can only heat things that contain water. Though I don't know in actuality, it would stand to reason that by nuking long enough you will kill any water-containing organisms via internally generated heat - sort of like boiling them from the inside out.

They have conducted studies on the effectiveness of killing bacteria using a microwave oven. They also have several commercial implementations of microwave ovens coupled with a vacuum which are used in hospitals to sterilize.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 143050.htm

Thanks for the thread Lloydie and the link JVD.

I have a lot of John Guest fittings such as can be seen here.

I have never worked out a way of sterilising these fittings in a manner where I am truly sure they will be sterilised.

Would the stainless steel collet pose a problem with me microwaving them or do modern microwave ovens no longer have this "sparking" metal problem?

Thanks again,
PP