What's the Effect of Microwaves on Airborne Organisms?

What's the Effect of Microwaves on Airborne Organisms?

by LloydieP

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

[center]"Eat my sugar, man[/center]

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Post #2 made 14 years ago

by Ralph

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

What are you nuking Lloydie, hops?

[center]Give me a beer and I will move the world. Archimedes[/center]

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Post #3 made 14 years ago

by dick

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.

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Post #4 made 14 years ago

by SacSoul

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.

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Post #5 made 13 years ago

by JVD_X

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

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Post #6 made 13 years ago

by PistolPatch

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

Last edited by PistolPatch on 26 Aug 2010, 21:25, edited 10 times in total.

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