[GBlist] Microwaves - sorta off topic

["John H. Alderman III" <mountice@bellsouth.net>]

As the source of the use of florescent tubes for a general test of leakage
let me add that the greatest sources of leakage in microwave ovens come
from cleanliness or lack of and slamming doors. Just keeping the doors
clean so they seal square takes care of most of the problem. The number one
failure in microwave ovens is usually the door switch from people turning
it off by opening the door. That switch is designed as a safety switch not
operational. 
In my bag of tricks besides degrees in Ag and Ag Egr you will find also
Nuclear and Oceanographic. The nuclear came with quite a bit of hands on
experience. The thumb rule for lead is a tenth thickness is two inches.
That means that it takes two inches to reduce exposure to ten percent the
original level. I really think the lead in the glass of monitors has more
to do with glass chemistry than shielding as with any real shielding you
couldn't pick your monitor up. The shielding you wear for x rays for your
teeth  is more for lawyers than reality. The big advances in Xray exposure
there were from improved focused emission and the detector films. I have
been doing a great deal of work with photosynthetic bacteria and ran into
alot of trouble getting lead free glass. For example all that neon sign
tubing...Lead City.
As for the  inverse of the square of the distance rule that depends on the
focusing of the emission. That rule only applies for point sources. You can
be quite some distance from a focused emission and get your goose cooked. 
Oh and maybe this is more on topic as those bacteria are blue green...

John




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