Maybe this belongs in Physics & Math, but this forum seems reasonable. I have a microwave oven with a rotating tray which is circa 15 inches in diameter. One friend claims that a container of milk would heat faster if placed in the middle of the tray. Another recommends placing it at the edge. I claim that there would not be a significant difference due to placement. Who is correct? Might the correct answer depend on some design details of the oven?
Well, the answer is that it depends on the configuration of the oven, so while neither of your friends are 100% correct, only you were 100% wrong -- but at least you thought of the correct answer in your alternate speculation. http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2011/microwave-oven-diagnostics-with-indian-snack-food/
Very interesting article, Russ. After this thread settles someday into obscurity I want to use that first picture in the 'Guess what it is' game thread. I didn't know how to answer the OP but I have observed with some microwaves that even a mug of water is sometimes not heated throughout, but only in patches. This is easiest to discern when you use a clear glass mug and very dark (red), bagged tea. Once you've seen that you can even feel the uneven heating. I dislike microwave cooing despite its alleged convenience, and because of unevenly heated mug water, I've been known to say, "I don't know what microwaves do to food and liquids, but they shouldn't call it heating or cooking.'
No competent cook would cook something in the conventional way and expect it to be at a uniform temperature throughout--unless he was cooking it at a lower temperature. So why do you expect more of microwave cooking? Most foods are not uniform in texture or density, so they're bound to have spots that are slightly hotter and slightly cooler. I never cook anything in the microwave on High, and it always comes out just fine. Only exception is water for a cup of tea. Once the tea ball has been steeping for four minutes and I've stirred in the Equal, it's uniform. It's a layman's myth that microwaves actually pass completely through the object in the oven and come out the other side. They just penetrate more deeply than a convection oven. This is why cooking something big like a roast or a cake in a microwave isn't going to be a whole lot faster than doing it conventionally. Most of it is heating by convection.
This first video: How a Microwave Oven Works goes into some detail about how a microwave oven works. It also gives a demonstration similar to the cracker demsonstration but using grated cheese instead. This second video: Seeing Where the Microwaves Are in a Microwave Oven uses an array of neon bulbs to visualize the distribution of microwaves in the cooking cavity.
if you put an ant in the microwave for one minute, will it survive. i'll give the answer and explanation why after some post have been made.
My son microwaved a red wasp he caught inside his apartment for 2 minutes. It stunned him, I guess, but he was able to get to his wings again. It took a second dose to boil the bugger.
Micro waves apply and electric field to things, but if the "thing" is small fraction of a wave length the field in all parts of it is nearly the same. Just like you often are in a uniform vertical electric field, the tiny thing does not get cooked. I bet a tiny ant can not be killed by microwave oven, Unless you drop it on the ant. :bugeye: In addition to Trippy's second link, a simple way to find the microwave intensity structure is just take the rotating table out and cook a stationary thin piece of meat - some "field free" parts will not get cooked. Thin slice of cheese should work too.
@Trippy THANKS for those video's... those really brought it home for me personally, I have an Amish Microwave (propane stove... the wood stove is outside for summer cooking only)LOL I don't use them, but it is COOL to see this and see WHAT is going on!
Apparently you can use that method to measure the wavelength of the microwaves - and hence, the speed of light. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
