Microwave Ovens – How Microwave Oven Works

In this section of Hometips for home improvement, we will learn about microwave ovens and how microwave oven works.

In simple terms we can say that a microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats our food and meal so that we can eat and enjoy it hot. With people getting busier, we don’t have time to cook food and meal every time we feel hungry. A microwave oven solves this problem. Now we can cook our food, store it and heat it in a microwave oven just before eating. Apart from heating food, a microwave oven is also used and is very useful to cook several delicious homemade recipes. We all love the sight of popcorns popping in a microwave oven. Don’t we?

A microwave oven not only saves time but it also save energy and fuel. It eliminates a tremendous amount of wasted energy in the kitchen.

Today, there are several types of microwave ovens are available. Some of these models are ultra-compact while others are large-capacity built-in microwaves.

Let us now learn what the working principle of microwave ovens is and how a microwave oven works.

If we had to explain this in a single sentence, we can say – “A Microwave oven works by heating water molecules in food with electromagnetic waves, these heated water molecules then heat our food and meals”.
Let us now understand this in some detail:

Microwave ovens create a kind of waves called “electromagnetic waves” due to the presence of electricity and magnetic fields. Frequency of this wave is such high that it heats the water molecules present in the food or meal. Because the water is present in the food itself, it is natural that the food will also get heated in this process. Try cooking some food in a microwave oven without any water to understand this. Can you cook rice and noodles in a microwave oven without any water? Of course you cannot cook rice or noodle without any water\r even of a gas stove. Now why does popcorn get cooked in a microwave oven? Well, we don’t cook popcorn, we bake them. Baking is always possible in a microwave oven.

If we go into depth of how a microwave oven works, we will have to take few lessons on physics and chemistry which is not possible in this article.

Another very important question here is that why rotating food containers is done in a microwave oven?

The answer is simple. Rotation of the container with food in which the water molecules have got hot due to electromagnetic waves helps the water molecules to move all around and heat the food evenly.

I guess now you got some idea about microwave ovens and how a microwave oven works.

>> Microwave Oven Buying Guide

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