why does a microwave oven heat food unevenly?

Question

why does a microwave oven heat food unevenly?

Answer 1

The microwaves excite water molecules. Thus, food items with comparatively less H2O will heat slower than those with more.

Answer 2

Most of the people that have answered are correct about the microwave energy exciting the water to heat the food. How well the food is heated is largely dependant on the water content of the food and how evenly distribued the water is.



What people are forgetting is that the energy emitted is a wave. If you remember anything about waves from physics, then you'll remember that waves will interfer. The waves bouncing off the walls and the new waves being emitted will either constructively interfer (to get a hot spot) or destructively interfer (cold spots). So in summary because the wave nature of the energy emitted you can get hotter and colder spots in the mircowave oven.



If I recall correctly, the box is sized so the waves form a hot spot in the middle, but towards the edges that are some cold spots.

Answer 3

it is the way the thing works, if the turntable does not turn you will get "hotspots". This is quite useful actually, (KITCHEN SCIENCE COMING UP). You can work out the speed of light using your microwave, a 15cm ruler and a bar of chocolate.



1 IMPORTANT. Unwrap the Chocolate.

2 Look at the back of your Microwave, find the label that tells you what frequency it works at.

3 Remove the Turntable

4 Place the chocolate as close to the centre as you can

5 Turn it on for 10 second "blasts", until you see the "hotspots" where the chocolate melts.

6 Measure the distance between them

7 Multiply this distance by 2 and then multiply that figure,(the wavelength) by the frequency and you should come close to 299792458 metres per second , or the speed of light.

Answer 4

First of all, someone said that microwaves are X-rays. This is absolutely untrue. The typical u-wave oven operates at a frequency of around 2400 MHz. That has a wavelength of 0.125 m. An X-ray has a wavelength of around 50e-12 m; that's 50 PICO-meters. As for why a u-wave heats unevenly, it's because the u-waves enter the cooking area in a relatively narrow beam, which then bounces around. Some areas end up with a greater energy concentration than others.

Answer 5

First because microwaves heat water molecules, so dry things won't get hot as quickly as moist things. Second, because microwaves have to penetrate from the outside in (like any heat), and so they don't get to the center. As said above, the center has to be heated by conduction of heat from the outside of the mass, which is as slow as a regular oven. For best results, slice your food and spread it out, so microwaves can shine on all surfaces, and make sure it's moist.

Answer 6

You have some amazing answers here. The ones talking about the moisture are the funniest. The frequency that microwave ovens operate at are roughly the same as those used in radar. Radar doesn't penetrate water well, folks. That's the reason you get a radar return from rain. The RF energy bounces off. Neither does your answer have anything to do with the food being an electrical resistor. The moisture does enter into the equation in that the more moisture, the less RF energy that can reach the interior of the food being heated. The klystron tube emits the RF from the top of the unit and directs it down. The only direct RF the food gets is from above. The remainder is bounce. Those who said the RF excites the molecules of the food, making them rub against each other creating friction, therefore heat, are correct. In my days with aerospace, I used to check airborne radar transmitters by placing my hand over the RF feed horn. If my hand got warm after a few seconds, I knew the unit was transmitting. That was a long time ago and since I'm still alive, guess it didn't hurt me, contrary to the opinion of many. I'm an MSEE (electronics) with a lot of experience over the years. Unless they've changed the laws of physics while I wasn't looking, I believe you'll find this information accurate.

Answer 7

A microwave oven heats by using a radio frequency field in the microwave band to induce an electrical current in the food. Most food is a homogenious mixture so has varying areas of electical resistivity and magnetic permiability. Not to mention the wide range of geomectric shapes. Basically the food is a big resistor but its resistance is not consistant throughout its mass, therefor the areas of least resistance get hotter than the areas of greater resistance.



Also the mositure content of the food is important. Dry foods are much harder to heat becauses of increased resistance. The more water in the food, the easier to heat, and the more uniform the heating

Answer 8

It depends on the type of microwave you have. If it emits microwaves towards the center of foods then it'll only be warm in the middle but in most cases the edges get cooked too much while the center is left raw.



In some cases the microwave transmiter will be on the top of the microwave oven (remember, microwaves are literally waves of energy that your food obsorbs to heat up) and so the warm particles and waves will only be directed at the center of your food.



Then in most and all other cases the beams come from the side (hence the spinning motion of the bottom plate in your microwave if you have this type). The waves are directed at the sides of your food instead of the center so in this case your food is warmed from the side.



There is also a way to correct the side-transmitting problem though. If you have a stove (I'm assuming you do) just throw your food on the stove if it can be put on the stove. This works for foods like bacon, burgers, hot dogs, eggs, and other foods similar to these because stoves warm food from the center out. This could possibly balance out the uneven distribution of warmth from your microwave.



Another thing you can do to evenly distribute heat through your microwave-ovened liquids (ex. soup) you can take it out and stir it. Actually most soup labels will direct you to stir the soup for a while and then put it back in the microwave. This distributes the heat throughout your soup so that the top doesn't get scalding hot while the bottom is left at room temperature.

Answer 9

The food is heated by absorbing the radiation. The center of the food will get less radiation because the food outside of it has absorbed some. The usual dodge is to zap the food for while, stir it, and then zap it some more. Since ice does not absorb microwaves nearly as well as liquid water, it is clever to add just a bit of water to something that you are thawing.

Answer 10

A microwave oven heats food by bombarding it with Microwave energy (a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, much like visible light or radio waves). When water molecules are hit by a photons in the microwave frequency, they become excited, and move around faster - this is what causes them to heat up.



Since the outer surfaces of the food are the ones exposed to the most microwaves, they tend to heat up faster than the insides.



Basically, for a microwave to excite a molecule on the inside, it has to 'miss' all the molecules on the outside to get to it. The thicker your food is, the less likely that is to happen.



What ends up happening is that the outside of the food gets heated by direct radiation, while the inside has to be heated by conduction - the transfer of heat from the outer surfaces to the inner ones directly. This process is much slower, and so you end up with food that is hot on the outside, and cold on the inside.





That was longer than I anticipated, but hopefully it helps!

Answer 11

1

Answer 12

The answer has been said on the replies, just not simply enough. A microwave oven passes microwave radiation through the food. Water, sugar, and fats in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam produced by a magnetron. Ever wonder why the food is super hard on the outside sometimes after being in there a long time? Because most microwaves have power settings that you can change but they are set (mostly) to cook at a 100 percent. Adjusting the settings can give you a better cooking atmosphere, but it will take longer. If the food is a liquid, put celephane on the top and it will cook faster. if it needs to be crunchier, just set it at 75 percent and make sure you turn it if it doesnt have a turntable. Hope this helps.



Fun Fact: First microwave was made in 1947. It weighed and was 6 feet tall. Its output was 3000 watts!!

Answer 13

In microwave cooking, the radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules pretty much evenly throughout the food. No heat has to migrate toward the interior by conduction. There is heat everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together. There are limits, of course. Radio waves penetrate unevenly in thick pieces of food (they don't make it all the way to the middle), and there are also "hot spots" caused by wave interference, but you get the idea. The whole heating process is different because you are "exciting atoms" rather than "conducting heat."



In a microwave oven, the air in the oven is at room temperture, so there is no way to form a crust. That is why microwavable pastries sometimes come with a little sleeve made out of foil and cardboard. You put the food in the sleeve and then microwave it. The sleeve reacts to microwave energy by becoming very hot. This exterior heat lets the crust become crispy as it would in a conventional oven.

Answer 14

Microwave oven uses microwaves to heat food. Microwaves are radio waves. In the case of microwave ovens, the commonly used radio wave frequency is roughly 2,500 megahertz (2.5 gigahertz). Radio waves in this frequency range have an interesting property: they are absorbed by water, fats and sugars. When they are absorbed they are converted directly into atomic motion -- heat. Microwaves in this frequency range have another interesting property: they are not absorbed by most plastics, glass or ceramics. Metal reflects microwaves, which is why metal pans do not work well in a microwave oven.



You often hear that microwave ovens cook food "From the inside out." What does that mean? Here's an explanation to help make sense of microwave cooking.

Let's say you want to bake a cake in a conventional oven. Normally you would bake a cake at 350 degrees F or so, but let's say you accidentally set the oven at 600 degrees instead of 350. What is going to happen is that the outside of the cake will burn before the inside even gets warm. In a conventional oven, the heat has to migrate (by conduction) from the outside of the food toward the middle (See How a Thermos Works for a good explanation of conduction and other heat transfer processes). You also have dry, hot air on the outside of the food evaporating moisture. So the outside can be crispy and brown (for example, bread forms a crust) while the inside is moist.

In microwave cooking, the radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules pretty much evenly throughout the food. No heat has to migrate toward the interior by conduction. There is heat everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together. There are limits, of course. Radio waves penetrate unevenly in thick pieces of food (they don't make it all the way to the middle), and there are also "hot spots" caused by wave interference, but you get the idea. The whole heating process is different because you are "exciting atoms" rather than "conducting heat."

In a microwave oven, the air in the oven is at room temperature, so there is no way to form a crust. That is why microwavable pastries sometimes come with a little sleeve made out of foil and cardboard. You put the food in the sleeve and then microwave it. The sleeve reacts to microwave energy by becoming very hot. This exterior heat lets the crust become crispy as it would in a conventional oven.

Answer 15

When the microwaves are bounncing around in the oven, there are areas that repeatedly get the crests of the wave more than the rest of the ove. These spots get hortter and result in uneven heating, there is actually a small fan (it looks like a ceiling fan) above the cavity, the Xrays (oops, ment microwaves) are shot at the fan which promotes some randomization of the hot spots. The other thing is that sugar, water and other polar molecules are affected very much do by microwaves, whereas nonpolar fats do not respond to microwaves very much. Thats why your corn gets really hot (the water and sugar and starch) and the meat takes longer (has less water and little sugar).

Answer 16

A mw oven generally needs to have some way of getting the microwaves to reach all sides of the food. This is usually done either by A) having a rotating platform to turn the food or B) by having a fan whose metal blades reflect the microwaves in different directions.



What kind does your mw oven have...? If it doesn't have a lazy susan inside, the fan might have burned out. If it does have a turntable or rotisserie, or whatever they call it, either it is not rotating, or the clutch that engages the dish in the bottom to the motor is not engaged. You might be able to re-seat them together by fidding with them, but first run the oven empty (on LOW power) for a minute, watch through the window to see if the drive for the turntable works or not.



Worst case, if the fan or turntable does not work and you can't afford a new mw oven right now, rotate the food 1/4 turn (90 degrees) halfway through the cooking time.



8 NOV 06, 2109 hrs, GMT.

Answer 17

Ok so after all the science experiments and informatoin (true and untrue) about how a microwave works, how about a real answer to your problem?



Microwave ovens are not like regular ovens. In a regular oven you turn on the power, put the food in and set a timer. Not so with Microwaves. For many of the reasons noted above microwave ovens heat in odd spots, and the cook must learn their oven and how to use it.



First, the food must rotate. If your oven doesn't have a turntable, you must get in and turn the food regularly so that the microwaves can work on it all.



Second, depending on the food being cooked, the dish should be sealed or covered with a plastic wrap. This keeps moisture from being lost too quickly and the food drying out.



Lastly, learn the power settings. High is great for heating a cup of coffee quickly, but if you want to pentrate a frozen meatloaf, the outside will be dry adn crusty before the inside is even warm.

Answer 18

your microwave must turn for it to heat evenly...heres my best explanation:







the radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules pretty much evenly throughout the food. No heat has to migrate toward the interior by conduction. There is heat everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together. There are limits, of course. Radio waves penetrate unevenly in thick pieces of food (they don't make it all the way to the middle), and there are also "hot spots" caused by wave interference, but you get the idea. The whole heating process is different because you are "exciting atoms" rather than "conducting heat."



In a microwave oven, the air in the oven is at room temperture, so there is no way to form a crust. That is why microwavable pastries sometimes come with a little sleeve made out of foil and cardboard. You put the food in the sleeve and then microwave it. The sleeve reacts to microwave energy by becoming very hot. This exterior heat lets the crust become crispy as it would in a conventional oven.

Answer 19

Microwaves cook food from the inside out. Though many microwave ovens do not have cold spots, some do and thus some cold spots. Purchasing a go-around for the microwave helps, I know because I always use it except when making popcorn.



If you do not have a go-around, then remember half way through the cooking to turn the item 180 degrees. And, if you can turn it over. Oh, rememer that when you take something out of the microwave, the food is still cooking for at least one minute!

Answer 20

Microwave ovens use various combinations of electrical circuits and mechanical devices to produce and control an output of microwave energy for heating and cooking. Generally speaking the systems of a microwave oven can be divided into two fundamental sections, the control section and the high-voltage section . The control section consists of a timer (electronic or electromechanical), a system to control or govern the power output, and various interlock and protection devices. The components in the high-voltage section serve to step up the house voltage to high voltage. The high voltage is then converted microwave energy. Basically, here is how it works: Electricity from the wall outlet travels through the power cord and enters the microwave oven through a series of fuse and safety protection circuits. These circuits include various fuses and thermal protectors that are designed to deactivate the oven in the event of an electrical short or if an overheating condition occurs If all systems are normal, the electricity passes through to the interlock and timer circuits. When then oven door is closed, an electrical path is also established through a series of safety interlock switches . Setting the oven timer and starting a cook operation extends this voltage path to the control circuits . Generally, the control system includes either an electromechanical relay or an electronic switch called a triac. Sensing that all systems are "go," the control circuit generates a signal that causes the relay or triac to activate, thereby producing a voltage path to the high-voltage transformer . By adjusting the on-off ratio of this activation signal, the control system can govern the application of voltage to the high-voltage transformer, thereby controlling the on-off ratio of the magnetron tube and therefore the output power of the microwave oven. Some models use a fast-acting power-control relay in the high-voltage circuit to control the output power. In the high-voltage section the high-voltage transformer along with a special diode and capacitor arrangement serve to increase the typical household voltage, of about 115 volts, to the shockingly high amount of approximately 3000 volts! While this powerful voltage would be quite unhealthy -- even deadly -- for humans, it is just what the magnetron tube needs to do its job -- that is, to dynamically convert the high voltage in to undulating waves of electromagnetic cooking energy. The microwave energy is transmitted into a metal channel called a waveguide , which feeds the energy into the cooking area where it encounters the slowly revolving metal blades of the stirrer blade . Some models use a type of rotating antenna while others rotate the food through the waves of energy on a revolving carousel. In any case, the effect is to evenly disperse the microwave energy throughout all areas of the cooking compartment. Some waves go directly toward the food, others bounce off the metal walls and flooring; and, thanks to special metal screen, microwaves also reflect off the door. So, the microwave energy reaches all surfaces of the food from every direction & hence a microwave oven heat food unevenly. All microwave energy remains inside the cooking cavity. When the door is opened, or the timer reaches zero, the microwave energy stops--just as turning off a light switch stops the glow of the lamp

Answer 21

I have two settings on my microwave plus a glass plate that turns, plus a timer.

Seems to me that when the middle of the food is still ice cold that the defrost setting doesn't work...(maybe because the product has been heavily frozen for too long a time and maybe microwaves work when products are only frozen at a certain temperature...ever hear of freezer burn?). Anyway if the time was to be 8 minutes then I microwave it at normal for 12 or more minutes and then the middle gets cooked too.



The glass plate that circles automatically seems only to cook well the food on the outside. Maybe each microwave is made differently. Anyway, just cook the product longer under normal temp.

Answer 22

Uneven heating in frozen foods is because ice does not absorb microwave energy as well as liquid water. (The reason for this is explained in the bottom paragraph) Sections of your food that have defrosted faster will then further cook at twice the pace due to more rapid heat deposition there. The "defrost" setting is designed to allow time for ice in a food to melt by conduction from other foods that have already melted, while keeping the "already desfrosted" food temperatures from rising too high that they will overcook or burn. Therefore...try the defrost method for a few minutes before you cook your TV dinners!







A microwave oven works by passing microwave radiation through the food. Water, fat, and sugar molecules in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam in a process called dielectric heating. Some molecules rotate as they try to align themselves with the alternating electric field induced by the microwave beam. This molecular movement creates heat as the rotating molecules hit other molecules and put them into motion. Microwave heating is most efficient on liquid water, and much less so on fats and sugars which have less molecular moment, and frozen water (where the molecules are not free to rotate).

Answer 23

I am not exactly sure, and it depends if you have a rotater or a regular sitting microwave. i'll never forget what i learned about a microwave in home ec in the 7th grade- a microwave indirectly cooks your food.. it cooks itself, so maybe the waves don't disperse through out the food at one time and that's why y ou have to flip it over and rotate it and mix it so it will all be warm. it's not like an oven where the heat is conventional and it surrounds the food from the top and the bottom.. the only heat source is from the top and it will heat quick or slow depending on what you are cooking. i don't know... but it's a darn good question.

Answer 24

That has a wavelength of 0.125 m. An X-ray has a wavelength of around 50e-12 m; that's 50 PICO-meters. As for why a u-wave heats unevenly, it's because the u-waves enter the cooking area in a relatively narrow beam, which then bounces around. Some areas end up with a greater energy concentration than others.

Answer 25

If the food is rotated during cooking, and stirred a time or two it will heat more evenly! Some microwaves heat more evenly then others! I have a Whirlpool with 1100 watts and a rotating bottom and it works very well. I once had an Amanna with a rotating thing built in to the top where the microwaves would be showered out more evenly and it worked well for 20 years.

Answer 26

The way that a microwave works is that it sends out waves of energy in spurts that hit different portions of the food. For example, if you heat a glass of water for 20 seconds, you will find that some molecules in the water are hot and others are still cold. If you stir the water, it will disperse the heat, transferring the heat energy from molecule to molecule.



When you heat a frozen dinner, about halfway through, try turning it or stirring it. When I am defrosting a chunk of ground beef, I will open the microwave after a couple of minutes and turn the meat, then start it again. After a couple of more minutes, I will break apart the meat as best I can, to let the waves go into other parts of the meat.

Answer 27

The microwave only heats the outside of whatever you're cooking. The heat has to travel inside by itself. If you're heating, say, a roast, the majority of the cooking is done after the microwave has been turned off. It's called "heat soaking." Heat transfer in liquids is much faster than through solids especially if they're stirred.



When heating something solid, it's usually best to heat if for a couple minutes, and then let it stand for a couple minutes. Repeat this process until your food is cooked the way you like it. That way, you don't overcook the outside and turn it to rubber.

Answer 28

Uneven heating in microwaved food is partly due to the uneven distribution of microwave energy inside the oven, and partly due to the different rates of energy absorption in different parts of the food. The first problem is reduced by a stirrer, a type of fan that reflects microwave energy to different parts of the oven as it rotates, and by a turntable or carousel that turns the food. It is also important not to place food or a container in the center of a microwave's turntable. That actually defeats its purpose. Rather, it should be placed a bit off-center so that the item travels all around the area of oven's cooking cavity, thus assuring even heating.



The second problem is due to food composition and geometry, and must be addressed by the cook, who should arrange the food so that it absorbs energy evenly, and periodically test and shield any parts of the food that overheat. In some materials with low thermal conductivity, where dielectric constant increases with temperature, microwave heating can cause localized thermal runaway. As an example, uneven heating in frozen foods is a particular problem, since ice absorbs microwave energy much less well than liquid water, leading to defrosted sections of food warming faster due to more rapid heat deposition there. Due to this phenomenon, microwave ovens set at too-high power levels may even start to cook the edges of the frozen food, while the inside of the food remains frozen. The low power levels which mark the "defrost" oven setting are designed to allow time for ice in a food to melt by conduction from food volumes where melting has occurred, without temperatures of the ice-free volumes rising too high. Another case of uneven heating can be observed in baked goods containing berries. In these items, the berries absorb more energy than the drier surrounding bread and also cannot dissipate the heat due to the low thermal conductivity of the bread. The result is frequently the overheating of the berries relative to the rest of the food. This can also be addressed with lower power settings.



See more information at www.wikipedia.com



;)

Answer 29

rayk469 give you the "why". Here are some ways to get around it and also avoid other issues caused by microwave cooking such as the tough meat patty.

Half way through the cooking process you need to stir or turn the plate. If your microwave has a carousel (lazy susan) you are already a step ahead.

For those of you who nuke burger patties and steaks...

Ever notice that they tend to get tough during cooking? If you are having this problem use about 2 tablespoons of water in the plate with the food and cover with another plate. The steam aids in the cooking process and your burger patty or steak will be tender.

For pizza you can do the same thing, but instead of putting water in the plate use a damp paper towel (wet and wring out) on top of the pizza. If you have a microwave bacon cooker (rectangular plastic plates with ridges running the length) you can still go ahead and put water in the plate (use 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of water instead of 2), just make sure the pizza is placed in such a manner that the water does not touch it at all.

You may have to adjust some of my tips for your microwave because not all microwaves are created equal. The one at home cooks food up in the time shown on the box or recipe while the one at work...well...unless you like a much overcooked dinner you better subtract about a minute from the cook time shown in the directions.

Warning to those of you who eat frozen dinners... This only applies to the plastic trays. If it was getting close to melting it isn't safe to eat the dinner. The "getting close to melting" state should be easy to spot As the tray will have some distortions usually along the rim/lip where the cover was attached. I'm saying this because at point the toxins and poisons from the plastic have leached into your food. I know this because my dad is a retired senior lab tech from Shell. He ran experiments on the plastic formulations used in those trays.

Answer 30

d from the inside out. Though many microwave ovens do not have cold spots, some do and thus some cold spots. Purchasing a go-around for the microwave helps, I know because I always use it except when making popcorn.



If you do not have a go-around, then remember half way through the cooking to turn the item 180 degrees. And, if you can turn it over. Oh, rememer that when you take something o

Answer 31

It makes the food extremely hot, and doesn't give enough time for the heat to work its way into the middle of the food. You can fix this by letting your food stand for 2-3 minutes after it's done cooking. The cool and scorching parts on the food will even out. If the food is easily stirred, like mashed potatoes, soup, or spaghetti, then stir it halfway through cooking. If it's something big and solid, like a chicken breast, or a salisbury steak, try flipping it over halfway through. Food on the outer edge of a plate will always get hotter than the inner edge. So try to keep that in mind when you have actual pieces you can move around. For example, if you had a plate of chicken nuggets cooking, you would want to stop the microwave halfway through cooking, and switch the outside ones to the middle, and the middle ones to the outside.



Basically if you stick to stirring, or moving things around the plate while you cook it, and you let your food stay in the microwave to stand (and let the heat resonate all the way through) you'll have a lot more evenly cooked food.

Answer 32

Microwaves definitely heat food unevenly. One problem is that the waves seem to emanate from one side wall of the microwave which means that the food closest to that wall heats more than the rest. On a rotating plate the food on the outside heats better than the food on the inside.



My solution is to open the tv dinner one minute prior to serving, chop up the frozen pieces and stir. When done, I stir it some more to cool the hot pieces and warm the cold pieces.

Answer 33

You need to be using a good quality microwave oven. It doesn't have to be the most expensive model out there. But it should have a rotating plate on the inside. If you unwrap your TV dinner (that is remove the clear plastic film cover over the food) and place it on the center of the rotating plate, then a good microwave oven should properly heat your food for you.



Don't use those outdated microwave models. You can pick up a good microwave for about $25 - $30 at most good retail stores.



Did I just answer this question? I did. I did.

Good luck.

Answer 34

The older models are more infamous for this annoyance, the newer models have improvements to avoid this. Basically a microwave is emitting waves of energy to excite the water molecules in the food and therefore produce heat. The waves are designed to bounce back and forth inside the microwave oven. The "hot spots" are a result of places where the food has been hit with a lot of energy, where the waves are overlapping. The cold spots are where it didn't get enough energy. Think of it like a radio, if you are driving around, you get to spots where your radio get a lot of static, and cell phones stop working, they are dead zones. Since the waves are emitted in arc's, and the inside of your over is square, you are overlaps and dead spots. It's not a perfect technology. Honestly, there are two solutions. One, buy a more expensive model, should cut down. Two, cover the hot spots ( and the edges of your food) with something that will bounce the microwaves off. Such a tinfoil ( it won't spark if you don't use too much). This is deflect the microwaves and prevent over cooking and should result in a more even temperature. Also, smaller portions usually cook more evenly.

Answer 35

In addition to the H2O distribution (that gets excited the most by the microwaves vs the non-H2O areas) most ovens have hot spots where more focused areas of radiation exist and so a turntable is needed #1 and #2 a toaster or convection oven for the final cooking works best IMHO, use the Microwave to defrost and preheat it a bit and the toaster oven to finish it off.

YUM!

Answer 36

in a microwave oven everything is heated by electromagnetic air waves. also known as radiation. because it isn't a direct heat the waves don't always cook the food precisly. that is why on a lot of food packaging it says cook for 2-4 minutes. by that they mean depending the strength of the radiation in your microwave cook between these two times. that is why before you eat anything or give it to a child test the food to make sure that it is evenly cooked throughout. because it is no accident if you burn your tongue.

Answer 37

For the following reasons:



1) Lack of convection currents in item being heated

2) Non uniform spread of microwaves in cooking area

3) prepared food has layers of heterogeneous food that heat up differently

Answer 38

Microwaves heat from the inside out , the consistency and thickness of items being cooked cause the food to heat unevenly.

Answer 39

Hi, I believe it has to do with the frequency and wavelengths of the waves produced. I did this experiment in physics class where we put marshmallows in a deep glass plate and put that into the microwave. The result was that there were certain areas that were affected continuosly because the waves hit there more often, and so there were holes in the marshmallows indicating this. The best way to get around this is to rotate the item being heated 45 degrees several times to get the item completely cooked. Hope this helps :)

Answer 40

microwaves ovens use a beam of waves that is only about 1 nch wide. The compartments in the dinner's tray separate the different parts of the meal. Unfortunately, they also stop the conductivity of the meal, which prevents the heated foods from warming the rest of the meal. By turning the meal around and around, and placing it slightly off-center on the carousel inside the microwave the beam heats more area, thereby helping to eliminate this problem.

Answer 41

Microwave cooking cooks from the inside out. Most of them now have a rotating turntable which will give it an even chance to heat it up equally. If you have an older (less wattage) microwave, you need to turn it every few minutes to even out the cooking. Another thing I learned from experience is that if you want to cook using the microwave, place the thicker (meat) items around the outside in a circle, veggies inside the circle, and it will cook more evenly.

Answer 42

I don't know if you really care why as much as you may want to solve the problem. If you get a newer one with a rotating dish you won't have that problem. Depending on what the item is, you may want to heat it a little at a time and then move it around in between heating. Also, anything starchy and or sweet will heat faster than meats or proteins in general so if you mix the two, one will always be hot before the other. Hope that helps you.

Answer 43

To add to the other answers explaining how microwaves heat food, if there is no rotation in the food, then the crest and trough of the waves will be hot and cold, respectively. When the food turns, it is subjected to variations of wave intensity.

Answer 44

Microwaves bounce heat rays or waves of heat to heat your food all around the microwave unevenly thus causing some portions of the food to be over cooked and some to be under cooked

Answer 45

Packrat_2 has the most correct answer. It is not true that the outside absorbs all of the radiation keeping the inside uncooked. In fact the interesting and most useful fact about microwave cooking is that it cook the inside nearly as fast as the outside. This is why oven companies are looking to include microwave cooking to their convection ovens.



The microwave electromagnetic radiation exits as a narrow beam and cooks the food in narrow beams. It would be like cooking food in a laser light show (at least the surface since it would not penetrate). Some pieces of the food would be missed and others would be cooked hot.

Answer 46

Because of the angle and process of the heat from the waves, not all areas of the food are hit by the rays as much as other areas (notice how the outside can be burnt, but the middle is still just right). This causes uneven cooking.

Answer 47

Ooooh Microwave technology at its best. I used to wonder the same thing untill my wonderful cooking teacher enlightened me on the wonders of the microwave. It heats things from the outside....which you have obviously already realized. Now, I would get all technical but you apparently have several answers that tell you WHY this happens (exciting the water molocules on the outside of the food then depending on the outside to heat the inside). Im going to tell you how to make it STOP happening...oooh. Let it sit! If you allow your food to sit, (if it says two minutes on the box, sit it for three) all of it will be hot, rotate the food and make sure that all of it gets heated, and then well, let the outside heat the inside, a few extra minutes wont kill ya. And voila, evenly heated food.

Answer 48

I've pondered this question quite a bit. I do know that if there are hot spots you just stir up whatever is in the container and it will equalize in temperature due to convection. My thoughts have been that the reason some things heat faster than others... beans, macaroni, or meat... could be either due to molecular weights or density. I'm agreeable that it has to do with increasing the "vibrations" of molecules or spin, or whatever you wish to call it... I do wish someone would shed some light on the molecular weight v.s. density or whether or why not this has to do with anything... there seems to be some kind of correlation here.

Answer 49

The waves in a microwave heat from the inside out, which means that the inside will cook faster than the outside. Refer to your owners manual for directions in cooking times.

Answer 50

Well... a microwave uses really strong waves of light which eventually is hot! Its like what happens when u keep the light on. Then the object under it would heat up... so in a microwave the light is really hot and fast so it warms up the food real well :)

Answer 51

This happen's mainly because all the microwave radiations are concentrated at one particular portion thus causing friction and exciting the molecules and creating heat in that portion only.



I think it helps if you have a turnable plate inside the oven because then it may get heated evenly

Answer 52

It depends on the watts, most prepackaged food is made for microwaves with 700 watts or more. If you have a small compact microwave you have to keep it in longer, turn it constantly, flip it over if necessary. It is better to put it in a conventional oven

Answer 53

Microwaves are short length waves of electromagnetic radiation.

Because they are short they find it more difficult to penetrate objects that a regular electric oven has little trouble penetrating.



Here is a way to help that microwave out. cover what you are heating with a big glass bowl. It may take a little longer but the heat seems to disperse better.

Answer 54

The foods have different specific heats. Also, unless the microwave is a convection-style oven, the heat does not circulate evenly.

Answer 55

The food molecules are not the same throughout. Denser, more liquid areas of the food heat faster than dry, fluffy areas. Also the microwave beams don't alway focus evenly--that is why you need to either move the food around or use some other method to move the beam around the food.

Answer 56

Thats becoz the heat is unevenly distributed and heat is most likely from the top , so the bottom of ur food wud be cool. Always break time and mix food so hot and cold get mixed and then reheat so all get hot .

Answer 57

a better question is how does a microwave work. a microwave oven generates microwaves which bombard the food inside and cause the molecules to speed up. when the molecules speed up they create friction. friction creates heat. so the reason different foods heat differently has to do with the density of the food and its placement inside

Answer 58

Although heat is produced directly in the food, microwave energy doesn't cook food from the inside out. More dense foods like meat are cooked primarily by conduction of heat from the outer layers, which are heated by microwaves.

Answer 59

take it out and mix the food and sauce halfway through the microwave time, and make sure your microwave is revolving properly. sure the meal is easy to cook but comon nothin can be that easy...just get up and put a little bit of effort and stir it around. ive been in the same situation, long day really tired put in a tv dinner and half of its frozen, some tv dinners actually say to stop halfway and stir it though,

Answer 60

microwaves are nothing more than food being cooked by electric energy called watts each time the food is touched by these watts the wattage output is doubled or in other words gets hotter with every time that they touch food or water it gets hotter and hotter as they continue to touch the food picture it as a video game that IS called pong as u continue to block the dot it starts to move faster and faster well its the same with microwaves they get faster and the heating effect is determined by the density of the food and wether the unit is in peak efficiency and wether or not the modulator is in good or great condition try this move the unit somewhere there's a lot of air circulatingand u will be surprised as to how fast things will heat and how they will get hotter evenly ...

Answer 61

ok simple tips that is easy to remember and handy when using a microwave oven



firstly,always microwave food in a pot or plate that was left in a refrigerator transfered to a room temperature bowl.....helps in evenly getting food cooked ........lots of electric energy saved.



Secondly, try to wet dried food that needed to be heated sprinkle a little with water eg..rice/pasta/sphaghetti



dried roasted meat can be had it brushed with a little oil like olive /sesame oil ..it tastes better ...never try to boil eggs or warm boiled eggs in microwave, either puncture them with forks ..and then its fine



hope you get some tips .....all the best!

Answer 62

Did you follow the directions EXACTLY? And does your microwave tray inside spin? If the answer to these questions are no, then that is why your food is not cooked properly. If you do not have a rotating tray inside, then rotate the tv dinner halfway through the cooking process. You must follow the directions. If it tells you to cook on 50%, you need to do this or else you can overcook the food.

Answer 63

Try using the warm plate button, or try defrost for about 5 minutes first. Another way is to turn your freezer temp down a frozen delight can be like a rock. I always set mine out for about 15minutes before I nuke it or if I'm in a hurry I set temp down on microwave and cook a few min longer.

Answer 64

When water molecules are hit by microwave frequencys, they become excited, and move around faster - this is what causes them to heat up.



Since the outer surfaces of the food are the ones exposed to the most microwaves, they tend to heat up faster than the insides.



Basically, for a microwave to excite a molecule on the inside, it has to 'miss' all the molecules on the outside to get to it. The thicker your food is, the less likely that is to happen.



What ends up happening is that the outside of the food gets heated by direct radiation, while the inside has to be heated by conduction - the transfer of heat from the outer surfaces to the inner ones directly. This process is much slower, and so you end up with food that is hot on the outside, and cold on the inside.





That was longer than I anticipated, but hopefully it helps!

Answer 65

the microwave oven uses high intensity radio waves to heat the food.these waves directly strike only the densest areas of the food material kept inside the oven.the dense areas are usually found in the center.the heat from the center slowly starts getting conducted to the other parts of the food.that is the reason why there is uneven heating in a microwave oven.this can also be seen while heating dough-nuts.

Answer 66

It is because microwaves emerge from the magnetron as a beam which spreads out so is not the same intensity throughout the cavity. Also more of the radiation is absorbed near the surface of the food than inside. A turntable helps the food heat more evenly. It also helps to let the food stand a few minutes after microwaving, to let the heat disperse evenly.



The cavity also contains standing waves which interfere constructively in some spots and destructively in others. Microwaves can heat by inducing currents in food which is conductive, but mostly it heats by agitating water molecules, which are dipolar.

Answer 67

The RF energy bounces off. Neither does your answer have anything to do with the food being an electrical resistor. The moisture does enter into the equation in that the more moisture, the less RF energy that can reach the interior of the food being heated. The klystron tube emits the RF from the top of the unit and directs it down. The only direct RF the food gets is from above. The remainder is bounce.

Answer 68

melly cook says "It's only hot air", But what's actually happening is that the radio/radar/micro waves are hitting the substance and causing the molecules to speed up. It does the exact same thing as if you were to heat it on the stove. It's just a different method

Answer 69

the heat particles can only penetrate a certain amount of an object at a time, therefore if you have a really thick thing in the microwave, the sides would heat up faster then the middle. if you had a big thing, such as a chunk of cheese, you could cut it up to give it more surface area..... if you have aluminum foil, the heat particles cant pass through it.... you can heat an ice cube wrapped in aluminum foil and it wont melt....

Answer 70

microwaves cook food from the inside out

meaning, the heat disperses fron the middle,

the outward. the best thing microwaves are

good for are heating up coffee.

depending on the food, the density of the food,

and how it's covered all affect cooking in microwaves.

Answer 71

Microwaves heats things from the inside-out. It starts heating on the inside, and eventually will heat the outside. One side might be more frozen, so it takes a longer time to melt that, and get to the outside.

Answer 72

maybe either the food is unevenly set in the mic, or maybe the turntable doesn't rotate the food. If 2 is the case, then just stop the heat process halfway, turn the plate/tray 90 degrees, then restart.

Answer 73

the microwave heats using waves, there is a transmitter on one side of the microwave hence the food closest to the transmitter gets heated most. Thats why microwaves have rotating plates at the bottom. This rotatest the container to ensure even heating of food

Answer 74

Oven Not Heating Evenly

Answer 75

2

Answer 76

Let me just clear the basics for you:



A microwave oven works by passing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2450 MHz (a wavelength of 12.24 cm), through the food. Water, fat, and sugar molecules in the food absorb energy from the microwave beam in a process called dielectric heating. Many molecules (such as those of water) are electric dipoles, meaning that they have a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, and therefore rotate as they try to align themselves with the alternating electric field induced by the microwave beam. This molecular movement creates heat as the rotating molecules hit other molecules and put them into motion. Microwave heating is most efficient on liquid water, and much less so on fats and sugars (which have less molecular dipole moment), and frozen water (where the molecules are not free to rotate). Microwave heating is sometimes incorrectly explained as a rotational resonance of water molecules, but this is incorrect: such resonance only occurs at much higher frequencies, in the tens of gigahertz. Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating in the 900 MHz range also heat water and food perfectly well.



So literally trapped water and/or moisture molecules found in the food/object are contracted and react with the strong microwaves striking the food at rapid speeds(The microwavial pattern), causing the most common foods to turn out as if prepared a day before!



To conclude and answer your question, A common misconception is that microwave ovens cook food from the "inside out". In reality, microwaves are absorbed in the outer layers of food in a manner somewhat similar to heat from other methods. The misconception arises because microwaves penetrate dry nonconductive substances at the surfaces of many common foods, and thus often deposit initial heat more deeply than other methods. Depending on water content the depth of initial heat deposition may be several centimeters or more with microwave ovens, in contrast to grilling (which relies on infra-red radiation and is known as broiling in American English) or convection heating, which deposit heat thinly at the food surface. Depth of penetration of microwaves is dependent on food composition and the frequency, with lower microwave frequencies being more penetrating.



This tends to give your food a warm but not equivalently prepared taste. Hopefully the future can potent a better microwave, don't you think?



Hopefully I helped you answer your question.

Answer 77

i think it depends on the type of food and the portions... if the food is a meat solid then it would absorb most of the heat... and everything else would get the left over heat that was not absorbed

the best way to get everything even in one time.. is to bye one of those racks that spinn when the microwave is on..

Answer 78

becuase it heat's only one side wich is why they have the plate in it rotate. And if you want to kill ppl with a microwave take the metal with all the holes out of the door and turn it on to 99 min and shut it that gives off radioactive waves that kill becuase they're like bleach and radiation. Quite alot for a 14 year old to know.

Answer 79

Microwaves only heat the outside of food. As the outside gets hot the inside starts to get hot too. It helps if you cut up the food into pieces and that way more of it is exposed to the waves... so therefore it cooks more evenly and faster.

Answer 80

Your heating with radiowaves,so something directly in line with the transmitter will get hot. I have also heard that the heat is so high that it cooks all the nutrition out. Better, put the frozen meal in a pan of hotwater on your stove,cover it and eat after the water boils for a few minutes. I do because I threw my microwave out.

Answer 81

Simple..





it's the water content in the foods







Microwave is a form of radiation.. that is the bombardment of radio particle



When they particles interact with the water molecules they excite them



this excitement of H2O causes them to move about quickly and heat up



some foods don't have as many h2o molecules to vibrate and by friction heat as do others

Answer 82

microwaves apparantly cook foods from the inside out. which seems backwards to me when you bite into your food and the middle is still frozen. does your microwave have a turn table cuz if the food is not turning it will cook unevenly or maybe your microwave is a p.o.s. lol :-)

Answer 83

food is always different consistencies or when cold has colder areas from the centre outwards so when heated inside out like a micro-wave does it will heat unevenly.Try melting an ice cube and watch how the rim always melts last.

Answer 84

yes, it depends on what you heat your food up in... i go to schoo.l for culinary arts and usually things with corners ie: square bowls usually heart food unevenly try round microwaveable plates or bowls. or you could always heat your food up stop it about half way and mix around and turn it back on... good luck.

Answer 85

Most micowave ovens have a turntable to minimize this uneven heating problem but if yours doesn't you have to rotate the dish several times each miniute to minimize this uneven cooking effect what has to do with how much moisture content is distributed throughout the food you are cooking. Uneven distribution of moisture content also contributes to the uneven heating.

Answer 86

Microwaves do not generate convection currents as in baking. The best idea is to get the manual and have a look through it, maybe you need to asjust the power or something.



Hope this helps.

Answer 87

In a microwave oven, food may be heated for so short a time that it is cooked unevenly, since heat requires time to diffuse through food, and microwaves only penetrate to a limited depth. Microwave ovens are frequently used for reheating previously cooked food, and bacterial contamination may not be killed by the reheating, resulting in foodborne illness.



Uneven heating in microwaved food is partly due to the uneven distribution of microwave energy inside the oven, and partly due to the different rates of energy absorption in different parts of the food. The first problem is reduced by a stirrer, a type of fan that reflects microwave energy to different parts of the oven as it rotates, and by a turntable or carousel that turns the food. It is also important not to place food or a container in the center of a microwave's turntable. That actually defeats its purpose. Rather, it should be placed a bit off-center so that the item travels all around the area of oven's cooking cavity, thus assuring even heating.



The second problem is due to food composition and geometry, and must be addressed by the cook, who should arrange the food so that it absorbs energy evenly, and periodically test and shield any parts of the food that overheat. In some materials with low thermal conductivity, where dielectric constant increases with temperature, microwave heating can cause localized thermal runaway. As an example, uneven heating in frozen foods is a particular problem, since ice absorbs microwave energy much less well than liquid water, leading to defrosted sections of food warming faster due to more rapid heat deposition there. Due to this phenomenon, microwave ovens set at too-high power levels may even start to cook the edges of the frozen food, while the inside of the food remains frozen. The low power levels which mark the "defrost" oven setting are designed to allow time for ice in a food to melt by conduction from food volumes where melting has occurred, without temperatures of the ice-free volumes rising too high. Another case of uneven heating can be observed in baked goods containing berries. In these items, the berries absorb more energy than the drier surrounding bread and also cannot dissipate the heat due to the low thermal conductivity of the bread. The result is frequently the overheating of the berries relative to the rest of the food. This can also be addressed with lower power settings.



Microwave heating can be deliberately uneven by design. Some microwavable packages (notably pies) may contain ceramic or aluminum-flake containing materials which are designed to absorb microwaves and re-radiate them as infrared heat (similar to broiling radiation), which is not as penetrating and which aids in baking or crust preparation. Such ceramic patches affixed to cardboard are positioned next to the food, and are typically smokey blue or gray in color, usually making them easily identifiable. Microwavable cardboard packaging may also contain overhead ceramic patches which function in the same way. The technical term for such a microwave-absorbing patch is a susceptor.

Answer 88

It's because your food spinner thing doesnt spin so it only cooks the half closest to the heater thing. If you rotate it every like 30 secs you shouldnt have this problem or if that's too much work just buy a new microwave.

Answer 89

that is why on a lot of food packaging it says cook for 2-4 minutes. by that they mean depending the strength of the radiation in your microwave cook between these two times. that is why before you eat anything or give it to a child test the food to make sure that it is evenly cooked throughout. because it is no accident if you burn your tongue.

Answer 90

because of how a microwave works. microwaves go thru the food heating it up from the inside out. thats why you can't put metal in it or live animals

Answer 91

turn the food halfway and put the microwave on for 30 seconds more. then the food should be equally piping hot.

Answer 92

Your microwave may be faulty, or it needs a turntable . Make sure you read the instructions on the food regarding venting etc. for best results.

Answer 93

it is because a microwave heats from the inside out or because the turntable isn't working so it is heating the same spots the whole time

Answer 94

The reason why the microwave heats food unevenly is because of the micro bites that are in the thing that you are microwaveing.

Answer 95

Microwaves use a technology that involves micro-waves (waves of energy used to heat the food). The food at the bottom and outside or your plate/dish will heat up faster then the food at the top and middle of the dish. To remedy this, stir or flip your food halfway through heating it.

Answer 96

my microwave does thet 2 for some reason:S



ITS OLD...

so after half time in the micro wave.. I have to turn the plate n put the non heated food closer to the part that heats...(only the left corner of my microwave heats...)



So, either you do what i do(if you understood what i just said, or if u read it? ) or you buy a new microwave...

Answer 97

the rays only come out from the side that makes them. if it's on the left side, then the left side of the plate will be cooked faster and more than the right. vis verca for the right. that's why it's better off having a microwave that spins the plate.

Answer 98

The microwaves heat the moisture - such as rice- more then dryer areas of the food such as chicken. You need to stir it - then heat again, normally two cycles.

Answer 99

the magnatron, is focused to the center of the glass table in side.

Make sure that the table can turn unobstructed while cooking is going on.



If you have a model with no turn table, the energy beam, is still focused at the center, and you need to stop every so often, and turn what you are cooking.

also remember, micro wave energy, cooks from the center out wards

Answer 100

The beam of microwaves come out in a straight beam like a flashlight. They are supposed to hit a little slow moving fan in the top and reflect onto the food. Also some microwave ovens have this platter to rotate to put the food under the beam. It would help if the walls of the oven weren't parallel, but you wouldn't buy it because it don't look right. Microwave ovens are a compromise, but not too bad so no one bothers to improve them.

Answer 101

The microwaves travel in a set area (energy pattern), that's why a carousel type works to heat more evenly.

Answer 102

I think it depends alot on the foods thickness and its weight and how much water is frozen in it.



My veggies always are the hottest the fastest, the meat takes the longest!



Could be the protein content of the food item too.

Answer 103

Doesn't matter why it does. The problem is how to get around it. Most directions call for mixing the food in the middle of the cooking, For foods that can't be mixed (like steaks, fillets,etc.) try cooking part way, flip and rotate nuke some more, and so on till it is done.



A microwave with a turntable is very helpful. If yous does not have one, you can buy then at Discount or Dept stores.



There are also many cookbooks available for cooking in a microwave.



Good luck.

Answer 104

the reason that the microwave does not heat food evenly is becouse the only thing that is heating is hot air. their is not even a solid peice of facts that says that you actually get any thing cooked at all. the actually only thing you get from a microwave is that it just heats everything up and that is all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 105

Are you following the directions on the box? Most frozen dinners tell you to remove the cover half-way through cooking and stir the contents and put it back in.

Answer 106

Fundamentals of Physics, fifth ed., by Halliday, Resnick and Jearl Walker. Page 554. Its answer is inside the text somewhere. That will help.

Answer 107

well if a food item is saturated it will heat at a faster rate because a microwave takes advantagee of water molocules. If it is not a saturated item, it will not heat that fast.

Answer 108

i think there are uneven holes on the top of the microwave oven for the heat to come out of. its meant to heat it evenly but most of the time fails to do just that.

Answer 109

great question... wow!!!! 139 answers.

i always wonder the same thing. to me the microwave is only good for reheating something I had the night before(pizza, of chicken), or is only good for a quick meal.



so i usually just use the oven.

Answer 110

how the heat rays bounce off your food and bounce back from the sides of the microwave. you have to arrange your foods in a certian way to get the best results. always keep the thickest foods towards the middle of the plate, like chicken drumsticks!

Answer 111

i experienced the exact same thing this afternoon. i dont know the answer to your 'why' question, but to help solve it, i think we should never put it straight on 'high' straight out from the microwave. we should 'defrost' it , then flip the side, 'defrost' it more, eventhough it does take more time than 'high' but hey, at least it doesnt half cook your food. thats what i learnt today =D

Answer 112

a microwave works by bouncing micro-waves everyware. (hence the name) the micro-waves get kind of messed up when they hit certain types of metal, theat why your not suppoesed to put metal in it. the micro-waves will bounce around, but they don't penatrate food very well, so they don't always go all the way to the center. so it only heats the outside.

Answer 113

We have a microwave with a turntable & I find that it heats MOST all foods, even frozen foods more evenly.

Answer 114

the Micro wave only worx wen to waves comes together. this usually happens in the center of the microwave. try putting the seald pack into a bowl of water thet should spread the heat evenly

Answer 115

If you have a microwave so old that it has no turntable, or if the turntable quite working years ago, toss it and get a newer model. If you insist on keep it (It was good enough for grandpa, and it's good enough for me) half-way through stop, open the door, rotate the food a half a turn and start it up again.

Answer 116

Turn the dinners every minute or two, or get a turntable...it winds up & is made for microwaves. Most newer microwaves come with a turntable built in.

Answer 117

Rotate the food 180 degrees, 1/2 way thru the cooking cycle.

Answer 118

Using the microwave is disgusting.

It takes away all the nutrients in food, it also scrambles all the atoms. It will just make you sick.

Whats the point of eatting if your not getting any nutrients???

Answer 119

Because the thing in the microwave oven that makes the micro-waves is on one side, so the food that is closer to that thing is hotter than the food on the other side of the oven. Notice that the hot side of the food was always on the same side in the oven. That's why most newer microwaves have a turntable to automatically rotate your food while it's cooking. If your microwave doesn't have a turntable, you can just pause the cooking every couple minutes and rotate your plate 180 degrees, then let it continue cooking.

Answer 120

It's not the miocrowaves fault, its the molecular make-up of the different foods you are heating. Different molecules heat up at different speeds. A turn table in your microwave might help.

Answer 121

it depends where the food is

if the food is higher up then the hotter it will be but if the food is under the plate or whatever it will still remain cold

Answer 122

because all the waves move at the same speed though the food place din the oven is not homogeneous

Answer 123

perhaps the heating element on that one side is broken....



i always microwave my food on the top of an upside down bowl so that it's closer to the top (a trick my dad told me) and to not place it dead in the center.... place it length-wise on the outer edge of the oven.



good luck!

Answer 124

put it back in the microwave for a few more minutes when this happens, it means it hasn't been cooked for long enough...trust me If it wasn't for microwave dinners I'd have starved to death by now!

Answer 125

I would love to know myself. There are so many things to cook in the appliance but no matter what type I have used it's never even! Let me know what you find out!

Answer 126

i'll not give you alot of unnecessary science that most people are doing to their answers. defrost what you are trying to heat first and then heat it with maximum power it will evenly be heated trust me very simple. if it has no defrosting feature heat with low power for some time and follow step 2.

Answer 127

the heat isn't coming from underneath ~ it's coming from around ~ the inside will take longer to cook because of this

Answer 128

Get rid of your 20 year old model and buy a new one with a turntable.

Answer 129

Lower power of a longer time will make a big difference.

Answer 130

because Microwaves cook from the inside out, that's why it cooks it unevenly

Answer 131

If your oven doesn't have a turn table, try turning your food half way through cooking time

Answer 132

The micro wave uses waves it starts @ the middle and works out. THats why certain parts are colder that otters! Hope it helps

Answer 133

It may have something to do with watts

Not all microwaves are perfect

I go throught this with popcorn

Answer 134

Try adding water to whatever your cooking and cover with a damp paper towel to keep the moisture even.

Answer 135

OK dude you got a whole lot of sientefic answers here but very few tell you how to fix it; heres how: turn it about halfway through cooking time.Voila it cooks evenly if you turn it.

Answer 136

Cuz there only one blower and its only one side. Thats why most microwaves have that handy little rotating plate.

Answer 137

Your tray. If your using a glass tray then the middle will not cook as fast as the edges because the glass will obsorb heat from the sides and that's where you eventually burn the sides and the middle will be uncooked. What i subjest is that you use rubber. Since rubber doesn't get burn or get as hot as glass in the oven, it will be able to spread through out your pastry/food/ what ever your cooking and the middle and sides/edges will be perfectly cooked. And unlike glass, heat goes through rubber, not against it. The heat will run through the rubber and cook your food evenly from top to bottom and side to side.

*Note* A spinning plate in your oven will not do much. Will it get the middle cooked a but more? Yes, but only a bit more. Because as it rotates, the heat isn't concentrated one one spot and will spread alot faster. You will have to wait extra longer if you rotate your main food you are cooking in the oven.



Hope I Helped!

Answer 138

If your current microwave oven doesn't have a turntable, then I suggest you get one that does. This should solve your problem.

Answer 139

Does the platter that you nuke ur meal w/ have a rotating platter? That can even out the temperature so that u don't scorch urself and freeze urself @ the same time.

Answer 140

If your microwave doesn't turn I would recommend turning it halfway thru your cooking time...

Answer 141

A microwave will heat food evenly if used properly. Also it depends on the food and content being cooked along with other varibles as well.

Answer 142

heat the food separately... some kinds of food heat faster than others

Answer 143

You have a cr*ppy microwave oven...

Answer 144

because it heats it from inside out

Answer 145

microwavew vibrate the molucales so the friction heets it and the vibrations may onot reach a place

Answer 146

because the heat waive starts heating from outside to the inside and it works in rings ...

Answer 147

turn a plate upside down in wave and dinner on top it!

H E R E

Answer 148

I like the enchiladas and the teriaki too I even like the chicken if.... the sauce is not too blue.

Answer 149

its radiatio targets a certain area first then gradually spreads to another over time..its like cancer..it can start in one spot and move to another

Answer 150

okay you know that lil glass plate type thing that turns in a circle..yea thats the lil magic thing there and..some are diff cuz some are frozen or some you are just re-heating..yea..

Answer 151

,It's all about preparation the right type of micro [one powerful enough- those small ones don't cut it ,rotate the food,slice ,flip timing, crisper's-nothing like the old fashion stove.

Answer 152

You have to stir the food after a little while ..........and then the food will be evenly heated or cooked. It must have something to do with the density of the food.

Answer 153

it boils the water in the food

Answer 154

you have to turn the food over

Answer 155

well some times the microwave could loose heat on one side and some theft on the other

Answer 156

Because it cant get around the whole plate

Answer 157

you have a old model the third generation ones don't do that anymore

Answer 158

Buy a new microwave guy.

Answer 159

This happens in many old microwaves, as well as problems with the food itself. Be sure to stir the food well. Also, make sure you uncover it by any plastic or paper towels in the colder areas, and cover it in the wamer areas.

Do you have a turn table in the microwave? Those are very helpful, as the food is revolved and the areas being heated are switched very often. If you microwave did not come with one, microwave tables may be bought at kitchen and general stores (such as Wal-mart). If you already have one, make sure it is working properly.

Is your microwave old? I have a very old microwave, and it has the same problem. The device in the machine that is used to provide the heat may be old, or malfunctioning. Check it, if possible.

In closing, you problem is somewhat natural for microwaves. The best quick-solve thing to do is to remove the parts that are burning hot, and continue to cook the food, or cover the warm areas with thick plastic and continue to cook.

Good luck!

Answer 160

I'm gonna go with answer #5

Answer 161

well if you have a turn table it wont and if that sill happens, when your haf way done take it out and stir it it will work ps: can u rate me best anser

Answer 162

Because the incorrect setting was used.

Answer 163

cheap microwave.

Answer 164

Blinding me with Science!!

Answer 165

Your microwave is possesed!

Answer 166

because some are touched together and some are by it self which make it easier to get hot...

Answer 167

A better question is why do consumers tolerate that bullshit? There is so much garabge being sold by liberal ripoff artiists these days, it is sickening. STANDARDS should be ENFORCED in every aspect of our lives!!!

Answer 168

because u did not place it in the microwave evenly.

Answer 169

Maybe cause it is suppose tooooo!

Answer 170

If it doesn't spin it doesn't heat evenly.

Answer 171

becauze... some food iz all da way in da bottom.. wh woold u wanna noe.

Answer 172

COOK IT FOR ANOTHER 3 MINUTES

Answer 173

1 cause they suck

2 they turn

Answer 174

you didnt turn the plate

Answer 175

Please check the food.



...the oil heats pretty faster than the others... cheese melts quickly than beef meat..

Answer 176

maybe you don't have a turntable in it. even though that sometimes doesn't work.

Answer 177

maybe you should try rotating the food when the time is half way through and it might heat the food all the way. but if you have one that rotates by its self then i dont know what it would be

Answer 178

the head is all around ,but it is not on the botton

Answer 179

the microwave didn't heat them unevenly, some foods just cook at different rates.

Answer 180

it focuses and agitates molecules inside an object. rotary plates inside the oven help.

Answer 181

Do you have the kind of micro with a spinning carousel? If not, that could be the reason.

Answer 182

no se, senior

Answer 183

screw it and go to BK or taco B

Answer 184

No idea.

Answer 185

because it just does you idiot!

Answer 186

thats just how it is

Answer 187

one word.---rotate---.

Answer 188

I have noticed this as well, Thanks for posting this question!

Answer 189

you use microwave rays to heat it up. not real heat. thats y it cools down 1000 times faster then a stove. the microwave rays bounce off of some surfaces just like radar bounces off of certain surfaces.

Answer 190

The microwave is based on the premise that it uses x-rays to heat the water in a substance. Now, if that substance has low moisture then it wont cook quickly but if it is high in moisture, then it will cook readily. But, as it cooks from inside out, it has to cook outside in, because of density. So if you want it to cook faster, cover it, and add a little water to it.

Answer 191

Because you don't follow the directions.

Answer 192

Cuz ur microwave sucks, mine never does that.

Answer 193

maybe your tray doesn't spin

Answer 194

Your microwave sux get a new one!

Answer 195

It has something to do with how the rays bounce of the sides of the microwave