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Why microwaves heat food but not the utensils used to cook food?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Microwave ovens work by making particles of water vibrate with energy, therefore producing the most common product of energy: heat. As the plastic is not made up of water particles, it does not heat up.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoIf a user sets up a microwave and turns it on, one would expect it to heat the food in it. If it doesn't, it has probably developed an electrical fault. But that's probably obvious. If the unit has a touch panel and the display is not functioning and the unit is totally dead, it might be a fuse (but it may not).
Listen to honest advice here, friends. Even taking a unit apart to replace a fuse can be exceptionally dangerous. Very dangerous voltages delivered at high current make a microwave work. How much value do you put on your life? You been warned, ait?
If the display is lit, the fuse in the microwave is good and a blown fuse is not the cause. (A blown fuse kills everything including the display and clock. It will act as if it wasn't even plugged in.)
If everything comes on when it is started, like the light in the cavity and the fan (which one can hear running), and the timer counts down but it doesn't heat, the problem is probably isolated to the high voltage section of the oven.
If the display is on and the oven won't come on and run, there may be a problem in the door interlock system or the thermal protection system.
The cited symptoms and possible causes are general and some slight variation may exist in a specific machine. But the bad news is the same. It's this: there isn't much a user can do to fix the problem without exposure to extreme hazards. There are dangers lurking inside the metal box we all use so frequently (to the point we just about take it for granted). And they can be fatal. Don't even think about trying to repair a microwave. Be smart and be safe. The life you save may be your own.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoMicrowaves are of the same frequency as the absorption spectrum of water. Anything that contains water, in a microwave oven, will bet heated as the water in it is heated. Utensils, usually, do not contain water.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoBecause plastic is not made for that hot of conditions.
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Why do we chop food up to cook it?
so the heat can get in it
Why visible light can't cook food like microwaves and Doesn't the visible light have higher energy than microwaves?
Well, light has to be concentrated to be hot enough to cook food, kinda like using a magnifying glass to burn stuff, even though normal sunlight can't do it alone.A2. And don't forget that microwave ovens typically have a power of about 1kW. A 1kW infrared lamp will heat up food pretty fast.BUT the microwaves penetrate the food to the centre, where they vibrate the water molecule. Whereas you'd have to wait for an IR lamp's heat to be conducted to the centre which will take some time by conduction.Microwaves are a lot more penetrating than visable light. It gets absorbed easier, wheras light reflects, etc.
Why are there hot spots in food cooked in microwaves?
Because microwaves work by rotating electrons which causes heat. As microwave is a waveform it is subject to reflecting off surfaces which means it hits your food and rotates the electrons to heat up the food it touches but doesn't always heat up the stuff on the bottom. That is why you normally take it out half way and mix it around a bit.
Why does microwave radiation damage your living tissue?
Microwave ovens are not inherently dangerous. Microwaves themselves can be dangerous in certain intensities or frequencies (don't stand in front of a high-powered ship's radar, for example). Contrary to popular belief, microwave ovens cause not deleterious changes when cooking food. The microwaves simply cause any water molecules present in the food to vibrate faster, causing heat by the friction of their vibrating (like rubbing your hands together briskly). The molecules heat up until the water boils, thus steaming the food. Also, microwaves do NOT 'cook from the inside out.
Can you cook over molten lava?
If you could stand the heat and watched your food carefully.
A microwave oven is 70 percent efficient if it is supplied with 4000 jouls of electrical energy how much heat is used to actually cooked the food?
A microwave oven does not use heat to cook food like a conventional oven, instead it uses microwaves to cook the food. The microwaves produce the heat inside the food, thereby cooking the food from the inside out.
Explain how microwaves generate heat to cook food?
The microwaves cause vibrations in the moisture molecules in the food and the friction causes heat. In this way microwaves cause food to cook from the inside out and is why it does not create browning on the outside.
Is a microwave a heat pump?
No, a microwave is not a heat pump. It generates heat by making microwaves which cook our food by vibrating the particles and making them heat by rubbing together.
What are the things you need to cook?
things like food and heat source. other things like pans and utensils.
How microwaves cook food?
the microwave makes the water molecules in the food move and bump around this causes friction in the food to be cooked.
Why can't you cook in paper utensils?
You could if you could figure out how to keep the paper from burning up while you heat the food.
What did the invention of microwaves represent?
The ability to cook your food by using microwave to make the water particles in your food move at a rapid pace in order to heat said food
Why do you not cook food in utensils made of wood?
Answer:Because the wood would burn up from the heat.
Why do microwaves not brown foods?
Microwaves heat food by heating the moisture in the food. If the microwave does not have a browning element in it, there is nothing to cause the food to brown. Some foods can be browned in a microwave oven, if there is some fat content. But this may also over cook the food.
Why can metal utensils get too hot to touch when you're cooking cooking with them?
Metals are good conductors of heat. If too much of the heat you're using to Cook the food items go into the utensils, they can become too hot to touch.
What are the differences of cooking with microwaves and IR?
A microwave uses radiation to cause friction in food, causing it to heat up or cook in a microwave. Infared cooking inserts heat at the core of a food and cooks it inside out.
Why do metal utensils get too hot when you cook with them?
Metal is a heat conductor.
