Microwaves reduce water refractive index.

ABSTRACT: Microwaves, long used as a convenient household appliance, have been increasingly used in industrial processes such as organic synthesis and oil processing. It has been proposed that microwaves can enhance these chemical processes via a non-thermal effect. Here we report the instantaneous effect of microwaves on the permittivity and phase velocity of light in water through the in-situ measurement of changes in refractive index. Microwave irradiation was found to reduce the water refractive index (RI) sharply. The reduction increased as a function of microwave power to a far greater extent than expected from the change in temperature. The phase velocity of light in water increases up to ~ 5% (RI of 1.27) during microwave irradiation. Upon stopping irradiation, the return to the equilibrium

SUBMITTER: Asakuma Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9262909 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature