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HOW
MICR-
OVENS WORK
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.
Ceramic
Bottom
Oven'Cavity
Metal Floor
Microwaves
are like TV
waves
or light waves.
You
can't see them, but you can
see what they do.
A magnetron
in the micro-
wave
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 ceramic
bottom
of your
microwave
oven lets micro-
waves
through.
Then they
bounce
off a metal floor,
back
through
the ceramic
bottom
and are absorbed
by
the food.
Microwaves
pass through
glass, paper
and plastic
without
heating
them so food
absorbs
the energy.
Micro-
waves
bounce
off metal
pans
so food does not absorb
the
energy.
Microwaves
may not reach
the center of a roast. The heat
around
the outside
is what
cooks the roast all the way
through.
This is one of the
reasons for letting
some
foods (roasts, baked
pota-
toes) 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 rub-
bing your hands together.
This is the heat that cooks.
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