Why are microwaves called microwaves? What is so "micro" about them? The wavelength is in the cm - mm area so that can´t be it.

Question

anonymous · Answer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave

anonymous · Answer

Thx. One the german page of wikipedia they say not a single word about that thing. Didn´t think of checking the english page. (I´m from germany)

anonymous · Answer

Oh, i know how that is, the swedish pages dont show nearly as much info as the english pages.

anonymous · Answer

The prefix "micro-" in "microwave" is not meant to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range. It indicates that microwaves are "small" compared to waves used in typical radio broadcasting, in that they have shorter wavelengths. The boundaries between far infrared light, terahertz radiation, microwaves, and ultra-high-frequency radio waves are fairly arbitrary and are used variously between different fields of study.