The Mind of Jay
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The Microwave Mystery
Author: Jay | Posted: October 18, 2008 at 7:38 pm |18 Oct
If microwave ovens are based on radio frequencies, which affects H2O (water) at the atomic level, why does it take longer to microwave more stuff? If I heat a mug of water to make tea, it usually takes about 70 seconds in my microwave to get it hot enough. But if I put 2 mugs in, it takes nearly twice as long (2 minutes or more).
It’s not like the extra mug/water is absorbing the “waves” which essentially pass through them. That would be akin to saying someone would have to talk louder (or longer) in order to be heard every time another person walked into the room.
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2 Responses for "The Microwave Mystery"
(dear j, you disappoint me)
in fact, for radiative energy transfer, emission on one end and absorption on the other are mandatory. since microwaves emit electromagnetic radiation and sunlight is also electromagnetic radiation, you can imagine the sun heating your parasol but not you beneath it. if the water does not absorb the radiation and still becomes warm, conservation laws are violated, and we are on our way to a perpetual motion machine of the first kind
also, yes, if people are standing in such a way that some bodies cast some acoustic shadow on others, you would need to speak louder in order to be heard by the shadowed. sound, although not electromagnetic, is a wave, and hearing is facilitated by the the absorption of that wave by an oscillator in the ear (as in a microphone)
This will be the first addition to JayWiki.
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