5 ms·
> ...effect on molecules that are dipolar? That's exactly what happens in a microwave oven. Water molecules are dipolar and vibrates with the microwaves.
by jonsen 5y ago
> ...effect on molecules that are dipolar?
That's exactly what happens in a microwave oven. Water molecules are dipolar and vibrates with the microwaves.
- ben_w 5y agoI thought microwave heating had more to do with inducing electric currents in the water and the resistance losses heating the food? That being why they’re bad at defrosting ice unless there’s already some liquid water present, and why they can heat molten glass but not (directly) melt solid glass? (I’m neither a chemist nor a physicist nor a radio frequency electronics engineer, so I may be way off here).
- jonsen 5y ago"Dipole rotation is the mechanism normally referred to as dielectric heating, and is most widely observable in the microwave oven where it operates most effectively on liquid water, and also, but much less so, on fats and sugars.": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_heating https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_heating In ice the molecules are not free to rotate as they are in liquid water.