Majority of the people across the world use microwave ovens and the number is increasing rapidly. It is the great utility involved as well as user friendliness that have led to the popularity of microwave oven. You can heat up food in seconds and cook or grill food in a matter of a few minutes in a microwave.
The common components in a microwave include an electronic power converter or a simple transformer of high voltage for letting energy pass to the magnetron;
a cavity magnetron that facilitates in the conversion of high-voltage electric energy to microwave radiation, a waveguide for controlling the direction of the microwave radiations, a magnetron control circuit, and a cooking chamber.
The function of a microwave involves use of microwaves, i.e. radio waves to heat food. In the cooking or heating process, the radio waves penetrate the food. Water and fat molecules get evenly heated; the heat does not drift towards the interior due to conduction. As the molecules are all heated together, heat spreads everywhere evenly. If your microwave oven is not advanced, there are chances that your food may not be heated from the within. This is because the radio waves may not penetrate evenly in the middle, especially in thick solid food. So, when you buy an oven, do have a look at all the microwave ovens available and compare the features. You will have to pay only a few hundred or thousand bucks extra to get the advanced one. And if you shop online you may still save a lot as online shopping mall always offer big discounts.
The frequency of the radio waves differs; the most commonly used radio wave frequency is around 2,500 megahertz (2.5 gigahertz). Frequency bands are available as per industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) parameters. Two ISM bands that are not generally used for cooking purposes due to the high energy consumption and high costs are those that center on the 5.8 GHz and 24.125 GHz as well as 433.92 MHz.
In household microwave ovens for cooking or heating purposes, the radio waves in the aforementioned frequency range (2.5 gigahertz) are easily absorbed by fats, water, and sugars. Once absorbed, the waves are then converted into heat. An interesting feature in a microwave oven is that the radio waves are reflected by metal. The radio waves in the given frequency range are not absorbed by ceramics, glass, and most plastics.
