Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Bryan Byrne on 16/02/2009 18:13:58
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Bryan Byrne asked the Naked Scientists:
Chris,
Listening to you (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/) on Second Life right now and having a discussion with someone here about microwaves and water.
Is it water that is heated in a microwave or is it impurities in the water?
Bryan
What do you think?
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Short answer: the water.
Longer answer: Microwaves heat food because the microwave (electromagnetic field) causes the molecules in the food to wiggle around. Microwave ovens are designed so that they're most efficient at generating heat in liquid water, but they can cause other molecules to wiggle too: fats and sugars, for example.
You could verify this by microwaving distilled water, which will heat up.