What the heck is going on inside microwaves?
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:And I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not. That part makes
Melissa:me laugh every time. And welcome to Chemistry For Your Life.
Jam:Podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Jim, do you wanna hear about what you're gonna learn today?
Jam:More than anything in the world.
Melissa:Today, we're gonna talk about how microwaves work.
Jam:Woah.
Melissa:I'm so excited because, last week, we Listen. Sometimes I don't bring my lunch, and then Jam and his wife provide me with food. And so last week after we recorded, I we are heating up ramen noodles. Don't judge us. They're really good.
Jam:Yep. Very good. And good for you. I'm not
Melissa:sure if they're good for you. I think
Jam:they are. Don't look at the nutrition facts, then they are.
Melissa:They're good for your soul Yeah. And for your nostalgia.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Growing up, I had ramen noodles and Doctor Pepper, like, Every day for lunch Yeah. In the summertime. I love Doctor Pepper. Okay. So I was watching you heat up your ramen noodles, and I started to say, Do you wanna know how and then I realized that that was the premise of this show, and I couldn't just start telling you science outside of it.
Jam:Yeah. It was like Like, I can't remember how it came up either, but there's a a moment where I knew that you were then immediately consciously holding back information. And I was like,
Melissa:dang it. Ever since then, I've been like, I can't wait to talk about how microwaves work. Yeah. So we're gonna talk about how microwaves work today. You're gonna learn that.
Melissa:You're also I'm gonna explain If you've ever noticed that little plate inside the microwave doesn't get hot Mhmm. But your dishes do
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:We're gonna talk about that.
Jam:Oh gosh.
Melissa:And then you're gonna explain it all back to me.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So that's what we're gonna do today.
Jam:Three easy steps.
Melissa:I'm so excited. I think it'll be very fun, and I've been waiting Literally 1 whole week to tell you about it. Okay. So before we do that, though, how how has your week been?
Jam:It's been pretty good. I roasted a lot of coffee this week, which like, the amount of coffee I roast in a week, and a measurement of how happy I am, are very correlated, and to try to put it scientifically. And I started, like, Putting a lot more intentional effort into job hunting.
Melissa:Nice.
Jam:I've been in between things and try to get a grip on life a little bit, but Trying to shoot out there and send resumes and applications and stuff and just kinda see what happens.
Melissa:Nice.
Jam:So, yeah, it's been good. It's, you know, it's weird because It I don't know what's gonna happen. But
Melissa:But kind of exciting.
Jam:Yeah. A little bit.
Melissa:The unknown's exciting. Yeah. And in the meantime, your full time job is to podcast and hang out with me. Right?
Jam:Podcast, Roast coffee. Hang out with you. Drink coffee that I roast, and, try to sell stuff and clean out our garage and Household stuff. Be a stay at home with dad even though we don't have any kids.
Melissa:That's I think that's just called the stay at home husband.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have dogs. So what about you?
Jam:How's your week been?
Melissa:My week's been good. I could talk about all the good things that happened, like how I saw all these friends and people that I love, but instead I'm gonna tell you about the bad thing that happened. Because it's That's
Jam:the thing that sticks out more.
Melissa:And it just happened. So yesterday, at around 5 o'clock in Texas in the summer, It dawned on all of us that our AC had broken.
Jam:Oh, no.
Melissa:It dawned on me and my roommate, Ryan. We were home. We thought it was the batteries for the thermostat. We replaced them, then it just kept getting hotter.
Jam:Oh, no.
Melissa:It was terrible. So last night, I I learned something new about myself through this experience. I thought I hated wind being on me. Yeah. So I was like, this is just gonna be terrible.
Melissa:I'm just gonna have to put this wind tunnel giant wind tunnel Fan that I stole from Sarah Glinesque 3 years ago facing on me Uh-huh. And just sleep that way. And I woke up so often because, Like, the little hairs around my face were tickling, or I was getting blasted in the face depending on which direction I was like. It was terrible. And then I realized I could move the fan to where it blew on my body, but not on my face.
Jam:And then actually able to sleep. And then
Melissa:I was able to sleep. Yeah. And that's when I realized that it's not that I hate wind on me. It's that I hate wind in my face.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:I also hate water in my face. So, apparently, it's just like fluid in my face of any kind.
Jam:Or just like you just don't want things in your face that You're not used to having there?
Melissa:Maybe. I don't know. Other people don't mind it. I, like, avoid getting my face wet in the shower, And I don't put my head underwater if I can help it when I'm swimming.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:I hate it. So that's a little inside Fact about me that I don't feel like many people know.
Jam:Yeah. Hopefully, no one decides to use that against you.
Melissa:They could. I think I
Jam:would run up to you at night, have a fan. They're like, hey.
Melissa:I would be really mad if someone did that. Okay.
Jam:So microwaves?
Melissa:So microwaves. Let's get into it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Do you know at all how microwaves work?
Jam:I don't think I do.
Melissa:Yeah. Well, I learned when I was in grad school.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And I have looked up some things to fact check this. I can't find this explicitly stated anywhere in a textbook, but it seems like the most logical explanation. My professor taught me in, my analytical chemistry class, shout out doctor Verbeck, about how microwaves work.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So ovens, regular ovens, not microwave ovens Yeah. They just get hot. Yeah. They just get hot, and then so your Your food also gets hot because it's in an environment where heat's being put in. Mhmm.
Melissa:Microwaves don't don't do that.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:They work by only heating up water particles in your food.
Jam:Mhmm. Okay.
Melissa:That's it. That's how microwaves work.
Jam:How can they only heat up water in?
Melissa:We I'll tell you. I'll answer that question. Okay. Before I answer that question, I want you to, like, think through some of the implications of what it means that it only heats up the water part particles.
Jam:Okay. And all he does is eats up water. So that's really good for food because some of our food has some Type of moisture
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:In it. I mean, like, probably everything we eat
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Has some amount of that.
Melissa:So what if there's not very much water in it and you're heating up the water that's in it?
Jam:Would that water get really hot really fast? Because it's not very much of it?
Melissa:Well, it's not necessarily that it'll get really hot really fast, but it some of the water always heats up enough to turn into steam.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:So you're losing water and moisture.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:So have you ever reheated chicken
Jam:Yes. Oh, yeah.
Melissa:And it dries out Yeah. The key is to put more water on there.
Jam:Got it. Or just to go ahead and reheat it in the oven.
Melissa:Yeah. Or just reheat it in the oven. That's fine too. So Because it only heats up the water particle particles, it can dry food out because some of that water will evaporate every time.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And That means if there's any water in your dish that has absorbed into the surfaces of your dish
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That your dish is gonna heat up too.
Jam:Okay. Interesting. Because there's, like, some bowls or dishes that They get way hotter than others.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And it's, like, annoying because it's like, dang it. Why is this, like, molten hot?
Melissa:Yes. So it probably is made from a Cheaper material or doesn't have a as good of a seal on it. So it has absorbed moisture, and then you're heating up that moisture.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that is why that happens?
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Can you think of why the plate inside the microwave never gets hot?
Jam:Is it because if you're doing it right, it doesn't touch the food at all and doesn't have moisture
Melissa:in it? It definitely doesn't have moisture in it. So they make it in such a way that there's no moisture, and it's not going to absorb moisture.
Jam:That's pretty crazy. Dude, I have a story about this.
Melissa:Okay. Tell me.
Jam:One time, when I was a kid
Melissa:This is unexpected. I'm excited.
Jam:Our microwave plate, like, that glass one that's they're revolving, Like, exploded in the microwave. And by exploded, I mean, as a kid, that's, like, the memory half of it. It probably just cracked really loudly Damn it. Saw pieces. In my mind, it was like, what the heck?
Jam:Like, added to the mystery of Woah. Of, Microwaves. But I'm guessing it's possible there maybe, like, was a nick in it or something like that. Mhmm. And then it was able to get some moisture in there.
Jam:And then because the rest of it couldn't, it was, like, The super Oh. Imbalanced thing going on.
Melissa:Yeah. I don't know.
Jam:It was very and then we had that microwave for a long time. We didn't have a plate. And it
Melissa:You just didn't use it. Or did you put the bowls or whatever right on the revolving thing without a plate to balance it? I don't
Jam:know what we did. Now I think about it, we we stopped the microwave a long time, I don't know how we manage that.
Melissa:Well so now you know the basics of how it works. Isn't that amazing?
Jam:Yeah. That's crazy.
Melissa:It's amazing to me that they figured out How to make plates that would never get hot in the microwave.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Also, why don't we just have all our dishes like that?
Jam:Yeah. That would make A big difference because I mean, seriously, the regular thing where I'm like, okay. I have to get a potholder just to just because I'm a little bit scared about how hot this thing's gonna be.
Melissa:Right. I assume that There's some other drawbacks Mhmm. To having that kind of dishware, but maybe it's, like, very expensive or something. But It seems like it would be worth it. I do have some dishes that I don't feel heat up as much.
Melissa:Yeah. But that one, there's no heating. Yeah. Okay. Now you know that.
Melissa:Now you know the basics of how microwaves work. Mhmm. You could leave with that if you just wanted to. Okay. But I wanna answer the question, how do you only heat water particles?
Jam:Yeah. Because that's like for me, I feel like okay. Now I know what is happening to at least the food part. But I'm still like, how is this insane piece of technology doing this magic. Like, it is kinda weird.
Jam:I wasn't I mean, like, it makes sense that maybe people were a little bit standoffish toward the microwave when it first came out because it is like Hey. Just stick this in there and press some buttons, and don't worry about it. Don't ask any questions. It's just like
Melissa:Don't worry about it. Yeah. Just stop. Don't. It's not worth it.
Melissa:Don't ask.
Jam:It's just using waves. Okay?
Melissa:It is using waves. That's true. Okay. So there are lots of speaking of waves, that was a good transition. It's kind of impressive that you said that.
Melissa:Not Speaking of waves, that was a good transition. It's kind of impressive that you said that not knowing what was coming next. And there are lots of different kinds of waves. Uh-huh. So and you've heard of them.
Melissa:They're ultraviolet waves. That's UV. Mhmm. That's what gives you sunburns. Radio waves, you've heard of those.
Melissa:Mhmm. Visible light, that's waves. Like the cut like, light that we see
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Is waves, and microwaves are waves. So they're waves with Different amounts of energy, different wavelengths. Mhmm. And they sort of fall into these categories on a scale.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So every single molecule will absorb in certain ranges of Those types of waves. Okay. Not those exclusively, but they'll absorb different amounts of energy based on the type of molecule they are. And that has to do with the shelves that we talked about briefly in our q and a episode Mhmm. Where If you have different abilities for electrons to move up and down on different energy shelves is the best way I can think of it.
Melissa:Yeah. It will absorb different amounts of energy to move that electron up and down.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. Absorb move it up, Let off energy to come down. So every molecule will absorb in a particular type of wave Uh-huh. Is the best way I can describe it in the time that we have. So water absorbs has a nice broad absorption Mhmm.
Melissa:In The microwave region.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So it can absorb microwaves, whereas other things maybe won't absorb microwaves.
Jam:Got it. So just before the the microwave Piece of technology existed. Water as a substance just already can absorb microwaves. Not the Yeah. Yes.
Jam:Not created not necessarily created by, like, some machine, but just it already is the case.
Melissa:Right. Okay. So microwaves already Microwaves, the waves, not the box Yeah. Existed, and we knew that water absorbed. I don't know how they Invented microwaves, what I'm assuming.
Melissa:They knew that water absorbed in that region.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then they thought, hey. What if we create a box that emits microwaves In a contained environment and heats up water in food.
Jam:Yeah. Okay.
Melissa:Can you think of something that doesn't absorb in the microwave region That might cause problems if exposed to microwaves?
Jam:Like metal?
Melissa:Yeah. So metal will that instead of absorb it.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And then it will cause those electric sparks between the metal spoon or whatever in the walls of the box and can burn holes in it. And that's why metal will, quote, explode in the microwave. Yeah. Because it's reflecting those energy things and Putting it into a pattern that it wasn't expecting and causing sparks of electricity.
Jam:One time, my friend in 3rd grade was heating up some
Melissa:I've got
Jam:a lot of my craft stories.
Melissa:This is crazy. He
Jam:was heating up some tortillas, and he accidentally left a twist tie on.
Melissa:Mhmm. And
Jam:it was classic because then it's, like, it's metal, But it's surrounded by, like, pretty much, like, paper. I think that was, like, one of the cheaper twist outs. So it was, like, paper.
Melissa:Right. So it
Jam:just started burning. It had caught on fire, though.
Melissa:That is so funny.
Jam:His lunch suffered.
Melissa:Oh, man. Yeah. Did the microwave suffer?
Jam:Think he caught it in time or our teacher did. Something like that. But yeah.
Melissa:So that's it. You got it. Now you should know enough to be able to explain to me how microwaves work. Do you have any questions before we move into the you teach Melissa portion?
Jam:Do maybe it's not chemistry. Maybe it's, Like, electronics or something. But how does that box of microwave create microwaves? Like, Is that something you know how that happens, or is it
Melissa:I don't know. Okay. There's a thing inside The microwave that generates microwaves.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But I'm not sure how. And I think that would be Chemistry, it would be somewhat interdisciplinary because Yeah. A lot of waves and energy stuff is physics, But it's also important to know to understand chemistry, like Yeah. Why things absorb in these regions. And we use that technology, that absorb Yeah.
Melissa:Absorbance technology in a lot of things. That technology is key to the research that I did on solar cells Yeah. Before I got while I was working on my master's. Uh-huh. Okay.
Melissa:Now can you explain it back to me?
Jam:Okay. I'll do my best. So
Melissa:I love this part because I'm just gonna drink my cold brew.
Jam:Actually and I ran out of coffee, so I don't even have anything to
Melissa:Well, that's okay because it's your list your talking time and my listening.
Jam:Okay. I need to focus. Don't think
Melissa:about drinks.
Jam:Okay. So, food has I'm a start from the the user side. I'm thinking, like, I've got some food. I want it to get hot. Alright?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:So Yeah. Food, the good thing about it, in this case is that a lot of it has some amount of moisture in it. Some of it has a lot in there. Mhmm.
Melissa:Like soup.
Jam:Like soup is like yeah. Almost more moisture than not. So, so you put it in the microwave and, water already, just take The basic water without thinking about it being part of a, bowl of food, already absorbs Microwaves?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:That's right. Okay. It's already true that that's the case based on, like, just the waves out there in the world that Mhmm. Can happen from things Mhmm. Like
Melissa:It's called the electromagnetic spectrum. That doesn't really matter a ton, but you might remember that from high school or physics or whatever. That there's a spectrum of waves, and it's called the electromagnetic
Jam:spectrum. That does sound familiar, actually. And so water already just Absorbed in in response to microwaves. And so when you take it to the context of food and how much water isn't a lot of food, if you can have a thing Like a box that can pump out a lot of microwaves
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Then it would, the water in food would respond to it and Heat up? That's just, like, the natural response of water to
Melissa:It's not that it's responding. It's just that it's taking in energy. And as it's taking in energy, it heats up.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Like Those waves are Energy.
Jam:Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Energy has to happen somehow.
Jam:And in this case, it's waves?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So the the waves are causing the molecules to heat up.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:As they're absorbing the energy from those waves, they begin to heat up.
Jam:Got it. And the things in the microwave that aren't Mhmm. Getting hot, do not have moisture or have, like, some like, are made of material and then also sealed or whatever so they don't, Like, really take in any moisture
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:So that, ideally, just the food is was getting hot.
Melissa:Right. And it I believe with those things that aren't reflecting waves, those microwaves are just passing through, and it's not causing any Harm.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:No absorption. No reflection. Just passing on through.
Jam:Okay. Yeah. And one thing you you said that I thought was pretty cool is that it's actually okay and very, Good to put metal things in the microwave.
Melissa:Like, that
Jam:was really new operation to me.
Melissa:Yeah. It's a really that is what I said. That's absolute that's exactly right.
Jam:Really excited to make lunch now.
Melissa:Yeah. And I think that maybe reflect isn't exactly the right word. That cuts into a little bit more of the physics y side of things. But Mhmm. The important thing to take away is that water absorbs the energy from microwaves and heats up, and metal can't do that same thing.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:It's not interacting with the microwaves in the same way
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:That water interacts with microwaves and absorbs them and heats up In a nice positive safe way, it does something crazy. Yeah.
Jam:And then there's the things that are in the middle that are, like, neutral because they're not metal and they're not water.
Melissa:Yeah. But
Jam:at least in this in the very simplified categories that
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Matter to most of us. Right. It's like the plate. Like, okay. It's gonna be fine.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:It's not a big deal.
Melissa:Right. Exactly. So you got it. That's it.
Jam:Man, that's awesome. Gosh. That one's cool. I'm excited about the microwave.
Melissa:I mean,
Jam:they're still a little freaky, but it's it's in a cool way.
Melissa:It almost is as if you're taking UV from the sun. Only instead of UV, it's microwaves, which people don't think about microwaves for whatever reason in the same way they know about UV waves or radio waves. They don't everyone just thinks microwaves are the box. They don't realize that microwaves are waves. But it's basically harnessing the special type of wave and using it Exactly the way you want to.
Jam:Yeah. It's
Melissa:pretty cool. It's pretty powerful. Again, scientists have superpowers.
Jam:Yeah. That's definitely superpower.
Melissa:They can harness the world's things and use it to their will, bend it according to their will. I
Jam:mean, think about if that was a superpower that a super, hero hat was just, like, microwave. Like, how crazy would that be?
Melissa:You point your hands and, like, out of I imagine out of your little fingers comes little waves.
Jam:And wouldn't that be pretty damaging to a person if you, like, say, like, I would Absolutely.
Melissa:There's lots of water in people Oh, yeah. That would absorb that. Also, I forgot to tell you. I think this is so cool and also a little bit like a superpower. Uh-huh.
Melissa:I learned this on an episode of RadioLab. It's the 1st podcast that I ever loved.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It's such a good podcast. It teaches you so much about science. There's,
Jam:I also love it.
Melissa:There's a creature called the, shrimp. What is that? A mantis shrimp Mhmm. That has way more cones in its eyes than humans Dude? Yeah?
Melissa:I'm not gonna get into this, so go just listen to that episode. But they have theorized that that Little guy can see waves other than what's visible to us.
Jam:So not just other visible light waves, but potentially maybe like Microwaves or radio waves or something
Melissa:like that. Defined visible light based on what we can see, but it's possible that other waves are visible to him To him. To this manta shrimp.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:All of them.
Jam:Him or her.
Melissa:Him or her. Them. All of them. They it's possible that they can see more than we can see. So they could maybe see the near IR waves and the ultraviolet waves, and they could see more than us possibly.
Melissa:Yeah. Isn't that Crazy.
Jam:That's insane. Yeah. So listen to the episode in 90 day relistened to it because it's been a while.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But, gosh, that's fascinating.
Melissa:Yeah. So, mantis shrimp and scientists have superpowers.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:This is the big takeaway. Thanks, Jim, and all of you out there listening for learning about microwaves and science some more today.
Jam:And just like microwaves, Melissa and I have a lot of ideas about topics of of chemistry in everyday life, but we wanna hear from you of ideas that you have. If you have questions or thoughts, you can reach out to us at Gmail or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at chem for your life. It's Kim, f o r, Your life. To share thoughts and ideas about future episodes, and you can also respond to to previous episodes.
Melissa:Mhmm. And if
Jam:you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe on your favorite podcast app. And if you really like it, you can write a review on Apple Podcasts that can help us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and J. M. Robinson. J. Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to A.
Melissa:Q. Asong and V. Garza, who reviewed this episode.
