Is it possible to design a microwave oven that heats evenly?

[MichaelD]

For the one millionth time in my life, I nuked leftovers in hopes of satisfying my mortal coils' annoying requirement for solid fuels.

I've been cooking/nuking a long time; I set an appropriate amount of time, and then let "it stand" for a few minutes before engaging Intake Mode.

The food on the outside of the plate was yummy hot. Mmm.

The food in the center (about 50%) of the area of the plate was cold. :| I've grown weary of this reheating game.

I thought "Damn! Someone needs to design a better nuker!" But then I thought "If it was possible, you'd have already bought one for $$$!"

What's the deal here?

 

[Viper GTS]

Convection microwave?

Viper GTS

 

[simms]

Yea, that happens. That's due to the radiowaves heating up the H2O molecules. Just like how you heat up water.. the base of your pot will get hot first, circulate and eventually the pot will be hot.

Unless you can invent something that can travel through matter and heat up the inside as well.. good luck.

 

[gistech1978]

in the words of bob marley.

stir it up.

 

[Rogue]

A microwave that also plays the Macarena in conjunction with the microwave process would probably work. Those molecules would have no chance in hell not to shake and shimmy and warm up after that one-two punch!

 

[MichaelD]

We love the nuker b/c it heats stuff up in 1/110th the time of preheating the oven and doing it in there.

We hate the nuker b/c it heats 1/110th of the food to the surface temp of the sun while leaving the rest cold as my son's mother's heart.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: gistech1978
in the words of bob marley.

stir it up.

:beer: also why you should stir soup.. and also to prevent it from burning.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Rogue
A microwave that also plays the Macarena in conjunction with the microwave process would probably work. Those molecules would have no chance in hell not to shake and shimmy and warm up after that one-two punch!

Hmm.

7/10.

Decent.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: Rogue
A microwave that also plays the Macarena in conjunction with the microwave process would probably work. Those molecules would have no chance in hell not to shake and shimmy and warm up after that one-two punch!

Hmm.

7/10.

Decent.

I concur.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

microwave blah. only thing I use a microwave for is boiling water for tea, and hot chocolate.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: simms

Originally posted by: gistech1978
in the words of bob marley.

stir it up.

:beer: also why you should stir soup.. and also to prevent it from burning.

How the hell can you burn SOUP? It is liquid, no? Only flammable liquids can burn (i.e. grease/gasoline/etc). Soup is mostly water, therefore it evaporates. It's the empty pot that burns. Ask my ex-GF about that.

Damn. My life revolves around food! Oh well...at least I wont' die of starvation.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
microwave blah. only thing I use a microwave for is boiling water for tea, and hot chocolate.

Ah, my F@H friend.

Tell me though; does the center of your boiling water remain icy while the outer edges actually boil?

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
microwave blah. only thing I use a microwave for is boiling water for tea, and hot chocolate.

Ah, my F@H friend.

Tell me though; does the center of your boiling water remain icy while the outer edges actually boil?

nope, thermal osmosis occurs quite rapidly with water.

 

[blahblah99]

Try one of those newer microwaves.. I heard they spin the food to heat more evenly.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Ah, my F@H friend.

Tell me though; does the center of your boiling water remain icy while the outer edges actually boil?

nope, thermal osmosis occurs quite rapidly with water.

umm, I believe the term you're looking for is "convection"

Microwaves can only penetrate so far into your food, that's a basic fact...the reason why we like the nuker (heats things fast) is the same reason why we hate the nuker (not enough time for heat to be distributed uniformly through the food).

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: blahblah99
Try one of those newer microwaves.. I heard they spin the food to heat more evenly.

:Q Really? Wow...I simply must get some 1985-era appliances!!

Puh-leese.

My nuker is an 1,100 Watt beast with a rotating platform (aka "turntable).

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: simms

Originally posted by: gistech1978
in the words of bob marley.

stir it up.

:beer: also why you should stir soup.. and also to prevent it from burning.

How the hell can you burn SOUP? It is liquid, no? Only flammable liquids can burn (i.e. grease/gasoline/etc). Soup is mostly water, therefore it evaporates. It's the empty pot that burns. Ask my ex-GF about that.

Damn. My life revolves around food! Oh well...at least I wont' die of starvation.

You'd be surprised what some people can do with electronics.

Stirring will help... the classic "flip and rotate" works wonders, too. In college my microwave would leave things frozen on the inside but burn you if you touched it on the outside... no frozen items. We eventually learned that it would cook evenly if you set it to low power and warmed it until it reached room temp, then cooked normally less 10-15 seconds after that.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: simms

Originally posted by: gistech1978
in the words of bob marley.

stir it up.

:beer: also why you should stir soup.. and also to prevent it from burning.

How the hell can you burn SOUP? It is liquid, no? Only flammable liquids can burn (i.e. grease/gasoline/etc). Soup is mostly water, therefore it evaporates. It's the empty pot that burns. Ask my ex-GF about that.

Damn. My life revolves around food! Oh well...at least I wont' die of starvation.

I meant like if you were making vegetable soup, or chicken noodle.. if you don't stir it the noodles will settle to the bottom and get stuck to your pot.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Ah, my F@H friend.

Tell me though; does the center of your boiling water remain icy while the outer edges actually boil?

nope, thermal osmosis occurs quite rapidly with water.

umm, I believe the term you're looking for is "convection"

Microwaves can only penetrate so far into your food, that's a basic fact...the reason why we like the nuker (heats things fast) is the same reason why we hate the nuker (not enough time for heat to be distributed uniformly through the food).

ack another dad blame grammar nazi :shocked: (microwaves don't heat the food, they excite the water molecules, the water molecules move faster, therefore heat is radiated from the excited water molecules, you put a bag of dehidrated food of some kind in the microwave, in theory if there was 0% humidity(not really possible) the dehidrated food would be the same temperature after 10 min on high as when you put it in the microwave.)

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Ah, my F@H friend.

Tell me though; does the center of your boiling water remain icy while the outer edges actually boil?

nope, thermal osmosis occurs quite rapidly with water.

umm, I believe the term you're looking for is "convection"

Microwaves can only penetrate so far into your food, that's a basic fact...the reason why we like the nuker (heats things fast) is the same reason why we hate the nuker (not enough time for heat to be distributed uniformly through the food).

ack another dad blame grammar nazi :shocked: (microwaves don't heat the food, they excite the water molecules, the water molecules move faster, therefore heat is radiated from the excited water molecules, you put a bag of dehidrated food of some kind in the microwave, in theory if there was 0% humidity(not really possible) the dehidrated food would be the same temperature after 10 min on high as when you put it in the microwave.)

correct.

 

[LTC8K6]

I suspect your microwave's stirrer is not working. No, that's not a joke.