How your microwave oven works 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
Mode Mixer Magnetron Ceramic Bottom
Oven’Cavity
A magnetron In the micro-
wave oven produces mlcro-
waves The mlcrowaves
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
Mtcrowaves are like TV
waves or light waves You
can’t see them, but you can
see what they do
Microwaves pass through
glass, paper and plastic with-
out heating them so food ab-
sorbs the energy Microwaves
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 rea-
sons for letting some foods
(roasts, baked potatoes]
stand for a while after cook-
tng, or for stirrlng some foods
during the cooklng time
Metal Floor
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
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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