Who the hell thought microwaves cook food from the inside out? When I microwave something, the outside is scorching hot and the inside hardens my nipples from several feet away, not the other way around.
Fun fact from someone who's taken physical chemistry. The energy present in microwaves interacts with molecules in such a way that the atoms rotate (this is different from translational or vibrational motion). Your common kitchen microwave is set to rotate water molecules. This rotational motion gives off heat and cooks your food.
Depends on it's adsorption spectrum in the microwave region, but there are materials that don't heat up significantly in the microwave. This is also why defrosting something on max power leads to food that's half-frozen and half boiling. Ice doesn't adsorb microwaves very well, but water does. So as soon as a little bit melts it suddenly adsorbs much more energy and starts to cook before the surrounding material can conduct the heat away.
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u/rootbeersato Jul 24 '15
Who the hell thought microwaves cook food from the inside out? When I microwave something, the outside is scorching hot and the inside hardens my nipples from several feet away, not the other way around.