Occasionally I just think about how weirdly dangerous it is to dismantle a microwave
@Felthry unplug it first
@yaodema there's still actual metallic beryllium in there! aka the stuff that causes the incurable, invariably fatal lung disease berylliosis
@Felthry well. It's beryllium oxide, in the insulators, as far as I can find. And in both cases they're basically inert as long as you don't break and powder them.
@yaodema huh, you're right, dunno where I got the idea that it was metallic beryllium. still, it's not hard to accidentally break it and BeO powders easily, so it's still not a good idea
magnetrons are pretty fascinating though, just in how they work
@Felthry they're some of the weirdest vacuum tube tech in existence and most people don't even know that's what they are.
