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How Your Microwave Oven Works
Oien cavity
Glass tray
Microwave ovens are safe. Microwave energy is
not hot. It causes food to make its own heat, and
it’s this heat that cooks the food.
Microwaves are like TV waves or light waves.
You cannot see them, but you can see what they
do.
A magnetron in the microwave oven produces
microwaves. The microwaves move into the oven
where they are scattered or stirred by a mode
mixer (like a fan). Microwaves bounce off metal
oven walls and are absorbed by food.
The glass tray of your microwave oven lets
microwaves pass through. Then they bounce off
a metal floor, back through the glass tray and are
absorbed by the food.
Metal
flobr
Microwaves pass through most glass, paper and
plastics without heating them so food absorbs the
energy. Microwaves bounce off metal pans so
food does not absorb the energy.
Microwaves may not reach the center of a roast.
The heat spreads to the center from the outer,
cooked areas just as in regular oven cooking.
This is one of the reasons for letting some foods
(for example, roasts or baked potatoes) stand for
a while after cooking, or for stirring some foods
during the cooking time.
The microwaves disturb water molecules in the
food. As the molecules bounce around bumping
into each other, heat is made, like rubbing your
hands together. This is the heat that does the
cooking.
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