How does a microwave oven heat food?
Microwave's Secret Dance
How does a microwave oven heat food?
You press a button, the microwave hums, and sixty seconds later your leftovers are piping hot. But nothing glowed red like a stovetop. Nothing touched the food at all. So what just happened in there?
Inside the microwave's metal box lives a gadget called a magnetron — a tube about the size of a flashlight. When you hit start, electricity powers it up, and it starts firing invisible waves into the box. These waves are called microwaves, and they're a type of energy, like light or radio signals, but with a special superpower: they make water molecules wiggle.
