Chocolate and The Invention of Microwave
September 8, 2011
Chocolate accidentally paved way for the invention of the microwave oven. Scientists during the World War II were primarily experimenting with microwaves wanting to come up with better radar detector. What really happened? Read on.
Radar was primarily used as a military weapon, but it was utilized in other fields as well such as air and sea travel, weather forecasting, among many others. The war was starting to cool off in 1945, but radar work was continuing to be hot stuff.
An American self-taught scientist named Percy Spencer was working around building devices called magnetron for radar sets. He reportedly walked by a cavity magnetron while it was at work. Spencer reputedly felt some heat and realized that a chocolate bar that he had been carrying in his pocket had melted into a sticky mess.
He then thought of using magnetron for cooking food but other researchers begged to disagree. They believed that it wasn't a good idea to place certain things by the magnetron. Nevertheless, Spencer pulled through with his further investigations.
Spencer tried placing popcorn near the magnetron and then it successfully popped. Thereafter, he tried placing an egg which cooked so quickly it exploded in his colleague’s face. He knew then that he was on to something big.
By 1947, Spencer’s employer made use of his work and started putting microwave in the market. The first microwave ovens were humongous and very costly. In the 1950s, certain companies tried to sell it as an “electronic oven” but it still repelled customers due to its hefty price tag.
By around 1967, microwave ovens were finally small and affordable enough to be seen in average households. And by the 1980s, microwave ovens were everywhere warming up leftovers, popping corn and, of course, melting chocolate.
If you ever wonder what specific chocolate bar Spencer had in his pocket it was, well, a Mr. Goodbar.
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The author of “Mostly About Chocolate Blog” was on the right track, but probably looking at the situation backwards. Mr. Spencer most likely had no clue of any health hazards when standing near the “megnatron”. (Just like Marie Curie didn’t know about the dangers of radiation exposure while placing her hands on the x-ray machine to steady it during each x-ray she took – and later died from exposure). But think of what the Magnatron must have been doing to Mr. Spencer’s body if it was metling the Mr. Goodbar in his pocket! (I assume he did not father any children after those experiments…). Of course, it could have been a hot summer day & his body’s warmth may have done most of the job already. But the chocolate may very well have served as an “early warning system” and prevented Mr. Spencer from further damage.
One more way chocolate can be good for your health!
Ahhh, the trials of a chocolate lover.
I suppose we need not only visionaries but people willing to risk their lives to create the advancements we now take for granted…
Brilliant post!