Molecular Dance: How Microwaves Cook Food from the Inside Out

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Ever wondered how your microwave actually works? 

So microwaves have this cool feature where they bounce off metal without heating it up. That’s why you can’t put metal in there – the waves bounce around instead of cooking your food!

The heart of your microwave is this thing called a magnetron – basically an electronic vacuum tube that converts regular electricity into those high-frequency microwave energy waves through oscillation. Once generated, these waves travel through a metal tube to this stirrer thing (looks like a little fan) that scatters the waves all around the oven. They bounce off the walls and penetrate your food.

Here’s what makes microwaves unique – they cook through friction! These short radio waves (ranging from 1mm to 30cm in length) actually penetrate your food and make its molecules vibrate like crazy. All that vibration creates heat, which cooks your food from the inside out.

That’s why glass, cardboard, and china are microwave-safe – the waves just pass right through these materials without heating them up.

Interestingly, microwaves aren’t actually that efficient for cooking large amounts of food. Since the magnetron only produces a finite number of microwaves, it’s better for small portions. Like, a regular oven might take an hour to bake potatoes, while a microwave can do one potato in just 3 minutes – but then each additional potato adds another 2 minutes.

It’s been this way since Edison General Electric introduced the first microwave for home use back in 1945. Their popularity has skyrocketed because, let’s face it, we’re all about that speed when it comes to heating up last night’s leftovers!