Microwave Oven

A microwave oven, or a microwave, is a kitchen appliance that cooks or heat food by dielecric heating. This is accomplished by using microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within the food. This excitation is fairly uniform, leading to food being adequately heated throughout (except in thick objects), a feature not seen in any other heating technique.

Basic microwave ovens heat food quickly and efficiently, but do not brown or bake food in the way conventional ovens do. This makes them unsuitable for cooking certain foods, or to achieve certain effects. Additional kinds of heat sources can be added to microwave packaging, or into combination microwave ovens, to add these additional effects.

Microwaving food raises several safety issues, but also reduces certain risks, such as that of fire from high temperature heat sources.

A microwave oven works by passing non-ionizing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2.4 gigabertz through the food. Microwave radiation is between common radio and infrared frequencies. Water, fat and other substances in the food absorb energy from the microwaves in a processcalled dielectric heating. Many molecules (such as those of water) are electric dipoles, meaning that they have a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, and therefore rotate as they try to align themselves with the alternating electric field of the microwaves. This molecular movement represent heat which is then dispersed as the rotating molecules hit other molecules and put them into motion.

. Depending on water content, the depth of initial heat deposition may be several centimetres or more with microwave ovens, in contrast to broiling or convection heating, which deposit heat thinly at the food surface. Penetration depth of microwaves is dependent on food composition and the frequency, with lower microwave frequencies (longer wavelengths) penetrating better.

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