How much radiation does a microwave give off?

Answer 1

Somewhere on or inside the oven is a little plate with information on it, like the

manufacturer's model number, and what kind of house current it runs on. Also

on that plate will be the "cooking power". That's the amount of radio-wave

power that gets pumped into the box when the oven is running. It'll be

somewhere between, maybe, 600 watts to 2,000 watts.

That's what goes on inside the box when it's running. If any of it gets out

of the box while it's running, then you have a problem, and it needs to be

repaired. That stuff is not supposed to be leaking out into your kitchen.

Microwave ovens use high power electromagnetic radiation (radio) at a

frequency close to 2.5 GHz to do the job of cooking.

Much of the design of the appliance goes into making sure that very little

of that radiation is "given off", and that it stays inside the cooking chamber

where it belongs. The reason for that is not so much any concern that the

meat loaf might take longerto cook if some of the radiation is lost. The concern

is that radio RF energy at 2.5 GHz and at that power level is potentially dangerous.

Here's a little factoid to consider:

Power generated by a microwave radio transmitter

and used to transmit high-speed data from a large

dish antenna to another radio tower 20 miles away . . . . . 1/8 watt to 2 watts

Power generated by the cavity magnetron in a

microwave oven and used to heat the meatloaf . . . . . . 600 watts to 1,200 watts

Answer 2

A microwave oven generates microwave radiation, which is a form of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. Links can be found below for more information.