THE INVENTION OF THE MICROWAVE
Do you like to "zap" your food? Microwaving is the easiest way to cook nowadays, yet the technology behind it was discovered by accident.
During World War II, scientists used magnetrons. They are long tubes that produce microwaves. They wanted to improve radar. Dr. Percy Spencer was an engineer. He tested magnetron tubes. One day in 1946, he wanted a snack. He reached into his pocket for a candy bar, but what he found was a sticky mess. His candy bar had melted! But how? The magnetron tube must have melted his candy bar. Percy put a bag of popcorn kernels near the tube. They started to pop! Next, he put an egg (in its shell) inside a pot. He cut a hole in the pot and directed the magnetron beam at the hole. The egg exploded!
Spencer's company Raytheon, applied for a patent. Within a year, they had made the first microwave oven. The Radarange was the size of a refrigerator. Only restaurants bought these ovens. In 1952, another company offered the first home microwave for $1,295. Today, many cost less than $100. It took about 30 years before the ovens really caught on.