The Microwave Oven essay 
Inventions play an imperative role in changing the way of life by making it easier to orchestrate certain activities. An apt example is a microwave oven which has evolved into one of the indispensable household appliances. A microwave oven cooks food faster than conventional ovens that cook with heat. It cooks food by exposing it to a microwave radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum. The paper will revolve around the microwave oven and explain how the invention has changed the world. For the purpose of this paper, a microwave oven was chosen because it would be interesting to learn more about an invention that was invented by accident yet became so useful.
Invention of the Microwave
The microwave oven was invented by Percy Spencer in 1945. Spencer invented the microwave while standing in front of a radar set. He noticed a piece of candy bar in his pocket had melted. Spencer became curious and tried heating other objects to see whether a similar heating effect would occur. After thorough research and investigations, Spencer created a microwave oven by attaching a high density electromagnetic field generator in an enclosed box. The oven works by shooting magnetrons into the metal box and leaving electromagnetic waves with little room to escape.
This allows for safe experimentation. What was invented before the microwave oven was the production of radar sets as well as machines that could produce magnetrons in the radar set. The difficulties experienced in the microwave oven invention was preventing the microwaves from escaping as they can be detrimental to one’s health and wellbeing in general. However, the difficulty was addressed by having a metal mesh which ensures microwaves can’t fit through them. The metal mesh is in the inside of the microwaves window and only allows light waves which makes it easier to see the food cooking.
The Impact Made by the Invention
The microwave revolutionized the hospitality industry as it offers a more convenient way of reheating leftover foods. Besides, the invention adds a measure of time-saving during meal preparations. The microwave makes things better because loss of nutrients such as vitamin C is minimized compared to the use of a sauce pan or pressure cooking. Similarly, glucosinolate which is a compound found in broccoli is retained when a microwave is used. This is unlike boiling where most vitamins and compounds are lost. The flavour and texture is also retained when food is reheated using a microwave. Moreover, it makes it easier to cook food in a manner that ensures it retains its moisture. This is because a microwave cooks food from the inside out as opposed to going through food from the outside in which takes a lot of time.
A microwave also makes it easier to bake cakes and breads thus taking the place of an electric oven. In addition, convection microwaves make it possible to preheat the microwave ahead of time so that food can take less time to cook. This also lowers energy bills. A microwave also makes it possible to only heat food without heating the utensil unless prolonged heating periods are involved. However, since its invention, the microwave has changed in a number of ways so as to offer more convenience to the user. For instance, a microwave today has been improved to become a multipurpose kitchen appliance that allows for cooking, roasting, grilling and baking. There has also been special microwave bowls that negate the chances of transferring unwanted food chemicals from the plastic cookware. The latest version is better than the original one because it is lighter and easily portable making it easy to be used on counter tops.
In fact, this has been a major step given that the first microwave resembled something between a refrigerator and a regular oven. Similarly, other versions are being outfitted with heat sources to make a combination microwave. An apt example is using a convection that will brown foods by using radiant heat sources. In addition, contemporary microwaves can generate a higher-wattage of up to 1500 watts and features a rotating tray to ensure food cooks evenly. Others have been equipped with automatic timers and various functions that have been customized to cook different types of food. A microwave also makes cooking a lot of fun due to the various cooking features for different foods and this makes it easier to experiment more and explore different recipes.
How a Microwave Oven has changed the Way of Life
The invention of a microwave has also changed my life to a greater extent by offering an easier and convenient way of reheating my meals. Besides, I can easily multi-task by attending to other activities as I wait for the microwave beep which signals that a meal is ready. Besides, a microwave can reheat food without making it soggy. In fact, this explains why the use of microwaves has increased its prevalence in bakeries, restaurants as well as other food joints. Moreover, a microwave saves a lot of time especially when I want to cook a frozen meal. This is because microwaves today have a defrost feature that melts ice off frozen food within a few seconds.
This also saves time the time required time between getting a meal off the freezer and cooking it. In fact, it is more convenient especially when one is in a hurry or when one had forgotten to take the meal off the freezer in advance. The defrosting function allows food to defrost without excessive washing and this retains the original form and nutrients. If a microwave had not been invented, there would be various inconveniences that one would encounter when cooking and this would also be time consuming. Moreover, one would spend more time on washing and using appliances to prepare various foods. This is unlike a microwave which is easier to clean as food does not stick in the surfaces.
I chose to write about the microwave because its invention was so fascinating. This is because many scientists had encountered the impact of high-frequency radio waves on heating substances. However, only Percy Spencer was curious enough to further experiment and investigate the effect. Moreover, I also figured out that a microwave is commonly used kitchen appliance yet I lack sufficient background information on how the appliance was invented. Therefore, writing about the microwave will shed light on various aspects of the microwave oven. Besides, I was also astonished by how a microwave works and wanted to take this opportunity to find out more about the appliance.
Conclusion
A microwave oven is common in most kitchens because of the ease of use and convenience it delivers. Microwave cooking is less time consuming compared to other cooking methods. Today, the microwave has been made to be highly versatile as it can cook, roast and defrost foods. Microwaves work by emitting high frequency waves that cause food molecules to vibrate. A microwave is mostly used to reheat cooked foods because the process only takes few seconds. The invention has been important in revolutionizing the hospitality industry and also changing how people prepare their meals.
