11/11/13

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TOP-TECH: microwave oven

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| How does the microwave oven work ? |

W hat s cienc e made the microwave oven poss ible? | The future |

How does the microwave oven work?

Microwave ovens use radio waves at a specifically set frequency to agitate
water molecules in food. As these water molecules get increasingly agitated
they begin to vibrate at the atomic level and generate heat. This heat is what
actually cooks food in the oven. Because all particles in the food are vibrating
and generating heat at the same time, food cooked in the microwave cooks
much more swiftly than food cooked in a conventional oven where heat must
slowly travel from the outside surface of the food inward.
The same radio waves that cook your food pass harmlessly through plastics, glass, and
ceramics. It is this characteristic that keeps plastic plates from melting and glasses from
exploding. It is also this feature of microwaves that makes them so energy efficient; they
heat only the food and nothing more.
Metals, on the other hand, reflect these radio waves, a characteristic very cleverly put to
use in the walls of the microwave such that no waves escape and cook anyone in the
kitchen!
All of the waves discussed so far are created inside a device
called a magnetron. The magnetron pulls electrons (tiny
negatively charged particles) off a fine heated wire and then
uses magnets to rotate them around inside a vacuum (a
space void of any other particles). As these electrons swirl
around and around they generate radio waves that are then
sent into the oven to cook food.

From J. Carlton Gallawa

What science made the microwave oven possible?

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11/11/13

SCI-TECH ... The cool site for hot science

From J. Carlton Gallawa

Magnetron technology was not invented with the intention of giving the world a quick way to
heat food. It was actually first fully developed for military radar systems. The switch from
enemy detection to cooking came one day in 1946 when a radar system engineer named
Percy Spencer was testing a new magnetron. He felt a strange tingling sensation and
suddenly noticed that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. He then placed popcorn,
eggs and other foods in front of the device and they all cooked - actually the egg exploded
all over his friend's face! Needless to say culinary history was made.

The future
Many microwave oven models already use sensors to detect how well cooked the food
inside them is and shut themselves down before anything gets overdone. And this trend of
"intelligent" food preparation shows no sign of slowing down. Sharp Electronic has released
prototype microwaves that can download heating instructions for specific dishes from the
Internet and prepare them without the user ever having to enter cook times.
By Mathilde W olpert, scientist @ESRF
Edited by Mat t K aplan, Science writer

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