Medical Uses Of Microwave Radiation

There are many uses of radiation in medicine.

Medical uses of microwave radiation.

Microwave radiation coming out from radar and other equipment such as long distance telephone and television communication relay systems medical diathermic equipment and certain devices used for rapid cooking may cause corneal cataracts and testicular damage. Microwave ovens work by using very high levels of a certain frequency of rf radiation in the microwave spectrum to heat foods. Exposure to high levels of microwaves can cause a painful burn. Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter.

The most well known is using x rays to see whether bones are broken. Two areas of the body the eyes and. Microwave ovens and health. Microwaves are high frequency radio waves radiofrequency fields and like visible radiation light are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Have you ever been worried about using your microwave oven because you ve heard that it may harm you in some way. The varian boys out of stanford microwave hall of famers pretty much made medical linear accelerators the mainstay of cancer treatment with their research in the 1940 s eclipsing the use of active cobalt 60 radiation sources with a much more controllable and power off safe radiation source. Within radiology we find more specialized areas like mammography computerized tomography ct and nuclear medicine the specialty where radioactive material is usually injected into the patient. Microwaves are used primarily for tv broadcasting radar for air and sea navigational aids and telecommunications including mobile phones.

Microwave radiation can heat body tissue the same way it heats food. With frequencies between 300 mhz 1 m and 300 ghz 1 mm. Microwaves do not use x rays or gamma rays and they do not make food radioactive. Medical applications of microwaves i e a possibility to use microwave energy and or microwave technique and technology for therapeutic purposes are a quite new and a very rapidly developing field.

When food absorbs microwaves it causes the water molecules in the food to vibrate which produces heat. They are also. Different sources define different frequency ranges as microwaves. Radiofrequency rf and microwave mw radiation are electromagnetic radiation in the frequency ranges 3 kilohertz khz 300 megahertz mhz and 300 mhz 300 gigahertz ghz respectively.

Research continues on possible biological effects of exposure to rf mw radiation from radios cellular phones the processing and cooking of foods heat. The broad area of x ray use is called radiology.