Microwave how does it work kids

It makes very short radio waves which go into the food to a depth of about 2. This makes water molecules twist about 2. This heats up the molecules around it. As they heat up the heat goes to the inside of the food. This process is called conduction. This also happens in a normal oven, but microwave energy goes deeper so that the food cooks much faster. In an ordinary oven the energy stays mostly near the surface, so it takes more time.

Apart from this, the oven has a wave guide, turntable , and a timer switch. When we place the food inside the chamber and turn the timer switch on, it sends a command to the magnetron to send microwaves, as well as to the turn table to start turning.

The microwaves of microwave ovens can heat foods containing polar molecules, such as water, as polar molecules are prone to the vibration effect caused by the microwaves. A final note: Don't forget to let grandparents, babysitters and other caregivers know about your in-home safety rules, including tips on using the microwave oven.

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Apple-Blueberry Crumble Recipe. Find Nutrition Experts. Light is an example of an electromagnetic wave, and so is a microwave.

We can only see electromagnetic radiation in the visible light spectrum which is why it's called the visible light spectrum , so microwaves are invisible. Radio telescopes and radar mostly use microwaves. Microwave ovens work because microwaves make polar molecules that is, molecules that act like tiny magnets all face the same direction - to visualize it, imagine that the microwave oven is telling all of the molecules to face left.

Then, the microwave oven reverses the waves, so that all of the molecules have to face the other direction - right, in this case. Heat is just the movement of molecules, so when the microwave oven tells the molecules to turn left, then right, then left, over and over again, this makes them get hotter. Water is the most common polar molecule in food, which is why dry foods don't tend to heat as well, or at all, in microwaves.

Microwaves get absorbed by these polar molecules, but are ignored by non-polar molecules, and this is why microwaves can penetrate deep into certain kinds of food faster than regular heat.