Let me answer a few questions here. First, no, the signal from your cell phone will not damage any glass, nor will the energy from the microwave. That is, both of these items transmit electro-magnetic (e.m.) energy. This energy penetrates various substances without causing any noticible change. Glass is an insulator and both microwave and radio transmissions have a hard time passing through it. And it also depends on the wavelength of the transmitted e.m. The radiation does affect watter molecules, which absorb the the e.m. waves like crazy. You cannot create nor destroy energy. You can only change it from one type to another.
As the microwave energy is absorbed, it excites the water molecules which then change the e.m. into heat. The water molecules in turn transfer that heat through both conduction and convection throughout the food, and, I might add, from the outside inward.
The microwave in your home transmits substantial e.m. Your cell phone transmits very little. In fact, the cell phone output is regulated so as to protect you, the user, from potential damage from being so close to the transmitting antenna. If the signal were allowed to be higher than what it is, it could mutate or even destroy cell tissue, causing cancers or physical injury. Unknown to many, the early radar guns used by the police cause infertility by basically cooking cells that wern't meant to be cooked. Radar stands for radio detection and ranging. The radar transmits radio waves to and object and measures the time it takes for the signal to reflect back. The radar has a receiving antenna as well as a transmittin antenna which picks up the return signal. It transmits and receives exactly the same kind of energy as does your cell phone, and your microwave oven, just in a different frequency and strength.
Know that all e.m. is the same thing, wheter it be visible light, gamma radiation, ultraviloet, xrays, or microwaves. Even the heat you feel from the sun on your skin is the same thing. Only the signal strength and the wavelengths change, depending on the frequency. Higher frequencies result in shorter wavelengths. Ultraviolet has a much shorter wavelength than does infra-red. It tends to penetrate the outer layer of skin and dammage the sub-dermal layer. The body reacts by sending extra blood to the dammaged area. Your nerves tell you about the damage in the form of pain. You have a sun burn. Infra red, on the other hand, has much less penetrating power and is transformed to heat as it strikes your skin. It can generate enough heat to cause a true burn. Xrays have sufficeint power to pass through soft tissues in your body and react agains chemicals on a special film. The picture is formed because things like tumors and bone are more dense and the xrays are blocked by them, forming a shadow on the film in the shape of the blocking material. That is why such a limited exposure to xrays is used, to prevent damaging the body. And that's why the xray technicians stay behind leaded aprons or leaded glass, to protect them from the radiation.
Each wavelength has differing properties, but none react with materials as does sound. Unlike e.m., sound energy is caused by the pulsating movement of a fluid, be it air, or liquid. There is no sound in a vacuum, such as in space. These pulses cause pulsating pressure on whatever the air pulses hit. And every material has what is called a resonating frequency. When you flick the side of a chime, the ringing tone you hear is the natural resonating frequency of that chime, or in other words, it will always vibrate at the same rate.
If a sound frequency that matches, or is a multiple of an objects natural resonant frequency is directed at that object, it will cause the object to vibrate. And since the natural frequency of that object is the same, the vibrations will become more intense (louder). In the case of glass, eventually, the vibrations will become intense enough to shatter the glass. That is the how sound breaks crystal.
Again, e.m. does not affect material objects in the same way. In metals, the e.m. creates currents of electricity called eddy currents. This is the principle used by induction stoves to heat steel and cast iron pans. The metal, being a poor conductor of electricity, creates heat due to its natural resistance to current flow. And glass, it isn't affected at all by the e.m.
Hope that wasn't too technical.
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
