microwave-oven

Microwave oven Alternative Title: electronic oven Microwave oven , also called electronic oven , appliance that cooks food by means of high-frequency electromagnetic waves called microwaves. A microwave oven is a relatively small, boxlike oven that raises the temperature of food by subjecting it to a high-frequency electromagnetic field. The microwaves are absorbed by water, fats, sugars, and certain other molecules, whose consequent vibrations produce heat. The heating thus occurs inside the food, without warming the surrounding air; this greatly reduces cooking time, and banking and other cooking tasks that require hours in a conventional oven can be completed in minutes in a microwave oven. Microwave ovens generate radiation at a frequency of about 2,450 megahertz by means of a magnetron , which is a kind of  electron tube. Since the heating occurs by an absorption process, microwave ovens tend to cook certain foods unevenly or at different rates. For ...