MICROWAVE ovens cook and heat food incredibly fast, in minutes or less. But how does this great invention work?
Microwave ovens operate in the electromagnetic spectrum at about the same frequency as a lot of telephones—2450 megahertz, but they have more power output as compared to cell phones.[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
Microwaves do most of their work on the water in food, Water molecules constitute what are known as ‘dipoles’. A dipole is sort of like a bar magnet, with a positive pole and a negative pole.
The oven’s electromagnetic field oscillates as it passes through the water molecules in the food, changing the polarity of the field and causing the dipole/water molecules to flip themselves in order to be aligned with the new polarity.
Heat is created by the resulting friction of the water molecules reversing direction millions of times a second.
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