this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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Nope, it just doesn't happen. It's an illusion of sorts, the plate isn't being heated because microwaves work essentially on shaking water molecules. Ceramics and plastics are ultra low water content, put a plate in the microwave by itself and it won't be hot.
What you're noticing is the plate heating because the food is heating and the food is transferring heat to the plate, not the other way round.
A simple refutation is that metal gets hot in the microwave, and it has no water in it. Microwave radiation heats many things, not just water
Only at the points it discharges the waves electrically. All the rest of the metal usually stays quite cold,... I've taken out plenty of forgotten spoons in my lifetime. 😅 Hence why microwavable metal is a thing. (Like the metal rack the usualky cones with combi-ovens.) Metal is a good heatconductor though, so microwavable metal will easily get hotter than the food heating it (much like your car's metal exterior getting hotter from the sun than it's environment), yet if you microwave that metal on its own it will not heat up at all...
That's... not how heat conduction works. Something can't get hotter than the thing that's heating it. What's heating the metal is the microwave radiation.
But
It does
Metal that's designed to be part of the microwave, like a rack or the walls, is designed specifically to avoid heating up. But like, a spoon by itself on the turntable will definitely get hot if you microwave it
It was simplified for ease. Metal indeed does not actually get hotter than its environment, but due to it's heat conductivity it has the ability to relay any surrounding heat when any spot gets cooled down (like when you touch it), it will transfer surrounding heat-energy to the colder spot, which it can do better than most other materials.
Either way, any spoon I ever accidentally microwaved remained quite cold tbh, though I have not tested this out over extended periods of time. Any heated food touching it will still be the main source it will draw energy from when touched, though...
I don't know how we manage to live under different laws of physics then, because I have definitely touched metal that had been in the microwave and gotten hot, and there are videos of people putting metal in the microwave showing it getting hot without sparking. Unless me, everyone I know, those guys, and all their commenters are all lying, metal will most definitely get hot in the microwave
Am I getting sharks are smoothed?
Yeah, if you look it up on Google you will find above definition, though... 🤷♂️
Look what up on google???
Different principle entirely but ask a physicist, I'm not telling you to trust me. I'm telling you to look, learn, and experiment.
Ed: Here's a hint. The first microwave was called a radarrange.
But I have experimented... I've melted plastic spoons in the microwave before. Where's the water in plastic?
Edit: that's not really a hint. What does radar have to do with how microwaves heat things?
Those aren't microwave safe then, other materials react as well but microwaves are tuned to shame water really well and most everything else not as well.
Yes it is. Microwaves came from radar and radar works on the same principal.
Ed:
I used to have some melamine plates that would get hot in the microwave.
Melamine is a weird exception. It absorbs microwaves for some reason, which is why it isn't recommended for microwave use.
Just FYI, melamine is not microwave safe and can catch fire or release toxic fumes into your food.
Yeah, I figured that out...after using them for years while I was growing up 😞
It's the many tiny air bubbles trapped in low quality ceramics that vibrate and heat it up.
Possibly, feldspar content can have an effect as well in ceramic but in general the plate is not doing the heating or being heated. An ideal ceramic plate or plastic plate doesn't heat until you get real crazy and manage to hit a frequency it likes.
This is true though... Microwaves work around 1000W, at which point we just have enough power to shake one of our losest (in terms of molecules) elements. It's been a while, but I too was taught that the step to heating anything else with microwaves was way too high, but only being able te heat water is enough for most food-related cases as many contain these. (You won't be able to heat up uncooked spaghetti, for example.)
I know, for the most part talking science is like talking to a wall but it's pretty gratifying when someone finds it and is randomly excited.