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
Microwaves are like TV
waves or light waves.
You can’t see them, but
you can see what
they do.
Mode Mixer Magnetron
Oven Cavity
A magnetron in the
microwave oven pro-
duces microwaves.
The microwaves
move into the oven
where they are scat-
tered or stirred by a
mode mixer (like a
fan]. Microwaves
bounce off metal
oven walls and are
absorbed by food.
Microwaves pass
through glass, paper
and most plastics with-
out heating them so
food absorbs the
energy. Microwaves
bounce off metal
pans so food does not
absorb the energy.
Microwaves may not
reachthecenterofa
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
potatoes] stand for a
while after cooking, or
for stirring some foods
during the cooking
time.
Ceramic Bottom
Metal Floor
The ceramic bottom
of your microwave
oven lets microwaves
through. Then they
bounce off a metal
floor, back through
the ceramic bottom
and are absorbed by
the food.
The microwaves dis-
turb water molecules in
the food. As the mole-
cules bounce around
bumping into each
other, heat is made, like
rubbing your hands to-
gether This is the heat
that does the cooking.
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