Microwave Oven

A microwave oven is generally known as ‘Microwave’ in short. It is a kitchen appliance, which cooks/heats up the food with the help of electricity. Microwave radiation can be used to even boil water, and when you put the dishes into microwave, and take them out, the polarized molecules remain in the food, keeping it warm.

Standard microwave ovens cook food efficiently and quickly. But, they cannot bake or brown food like traditional ovens. This renders them unsuitable for cooking particular foods, to attain particular culinary effects.

History of Microwave Oven

In 1945, the concept of microwave i.e. ‘the heating effect’ was invented accidentally. It was invented by an American self-taught engineer, Percy Spencer. At that time, he was working in a Radar station. Once he was working, microwaves released from the Radar melted the chocolate, in his pocket. So, he realized that with the help of microwaves cooking was possible. In this way, a microwave was brought to existence.

Types of Microwave Ovens

Usually there are five different types of ovens; they are

• over-the-range,
• countertop,
• convection,
• built-in,
• commercial and combination.

Let us discuss few things about these microwaves separately.

Countertop Ovens

Countertop Oven is suitable only for a larger kitchen. Comparatively, it is not expensive than other microwaves.

Built-In and Over-the-Range Ovens

Both Built-In and Over-the-Range Ovens are suitable for small kitchens, which have less counter space. However, an electrician is needed to install these microwaves and these are very expensive than other microwaves.

Convection Ovens

Convection Ovens work with the help of standard microwave technology along with heat energy. So, with the help of this microwave, you can bake, grill, roast, and brown food. This model is included with a heating element along with a fan, which reduces the heat of oven.

Combination Ovens

The Combination Ovens are smaller ones and are very efficient to cook food faster than conventional ovens. They can be used as a traditional oven too and user can select the mode in which, he wants to cook the food.

Commercial Ovens

The Commercial Ovens are designed and manufactured for commercial purposes. They are very powerful and have anti-theft equipment.

How a Microwave Oven Works?

Microwaves come under radio frequency band of electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves are generated inside the oven with the help of an electron tube, which is known as a magnetron. The produced microwaves bounce back and forth in the microwave and put pressure on heat.

Microwaves stimulate the water molecules that are present in food to produce heat, which in turn cooks the food. So, food items that contain more water molecules can be cooked faster than other food items.

Cooking with the help of microwaves is more efficient than conventional cooking methods. Microwaves do not reduce nutrition content in the food and work just like conventional cooking. Moreover, microwaves retain more nutrition values because they cook more quickly, and do not require addition of water.