How Foods Get Cooked in the Microwave

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  Microwave Principle

  • The microwaves that penetrate the food have an electric field that oscillates 2.45 billion times a second, a frequency that is well absorbed by polar liquid molecules such as water, sugars, fats and other food molecules.
  • Water interacts with the microwave

                  -flipping its orientation back and forth very rapidly

                  -bumping into one another and producing heat, cooking the food.

  • Glass, paper, ceramic, or plastic containers are used as the microwaves pass through them
  • Metal reflects microwaves- Unsafe to have metal pans/aluminum foil in oven, may damage oven