Microwave your termites

On a sunny day (Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:39:06 -0800) it happened "Joel Koltner" wrote in :

FYI I had a spider in the microwave, and it survived cooking. I do not give a shit for their microwave method, and it is very dangerous too at high level, microwaves like that reflect all around. And what about the poor guy sitting next doors against the wall? The guy doing that job will not get old.

Yes but a clump of termites would probably absorb energy. Like a drop of water, each termite probably wouldn't absorb anything, but in a colony, they might act like a cup of water. If not, well then get a THz BWO tube and bake the little farkers right through the wall.

Looks to me like they set it up on a stand and then retreat to a safe distance before swiching on. You can see the vertical support. If not then he will certainly suffer eye cataracts, kidney failure and cooked gonads. Any imitators that hand hold it will not live long.

I did once walk into a lab with a 1kW microwave induced helium plasma "flame" that was just about the right length to emit microwaves in every direction. The researcher had defeated all safety interlocks of which there were many. I remember admiring the pinky orange helium and hydrogen emission before making a hasty exit.

Regards, Martin Brown

More likely, sheetrock tolerates temperatures (about 160 Fahrenheit) that are fatal to the sixlegged.

Kiln-dried lumber always has a few hours at such temperature, to discourage insects and their eggs. Termites in particular are VERY vulnerable, their digestion of cellulose requires a narrow range of temperature be maintained for long periods of time.

The good news: your sauna won't be interrupted by bug swarms.

One would expect that the microwaves should be sufficiently micro that the termites would be reasonable antennas. This would be way higher frequency than the food microwaves.

Once my kitchen got invaded by the little brown ants we have around here. I put a plate swarmed with many of these in the microwave oven thinking they would die a quick but horrible death. They were completely unfazed. Too short to be good antennas. So I added a squirt of water to join them in a bigger aperature. Different story that time.

Is the termite killer tool up above 26 GHz? I doubt it. So probably not very good at killing small insects unless they happen to be in a large wet area or standing in long strings.

Looking at the size of the waveguide feeding the horn in the picture, I'd say this idea is a (perhaps well intentioned) scam.

It has nothing to do with frequency OR the bug's physical shape or size. Microwave is microwave, and the energy beam causes the heating and disturbance through the range.

The action by which it works is hysteresis heating. THAT has more to do with the state of matter the medium being radiated is in than it's shape or size.

An old adage about a ship's Captain, and a demonstration about why a Sailor should never walk in front of the radar dish(es) fits. Put a grapefruit on the end of a stick. Put that in front of the microwave dish, and watch it quickly explode.

Wattage and how "richly" the volume of space is being filled with the RF beams determines how fast a susceptible medium (not shape or size) in that space heats up.

With life forms, heat isn't even required. The cells' nucleus are burst, and no further replication takes place in any of those affected cells. The animal (or insect) dies.

They guarantee results, including the death of all queens. (sure)

I would want to be the neighbor next door, so I could sue the retarded bastards for every dime they ever made, and many they would yet make.

Then, I would sue the authority that approved the "system" for use... ANYWHERE.

It has to be the stupidest idea I have ever seen.

Just mix some borax with some sugar water, honey, or syrup. The ants will be gone by the next day. (They take it back to the nest and feed it to the other ants, including the queen.)

Or, just spring for some Terro ant killer. ;-)

Hope This Helps! Rich