A Closer Look at Microwave Pizzas & Their Cardboard Disks

[Math Is Hard]

I have been cooking these mini microwave pizzas lately and they come with a special round cardboard disk that you set the pizza on when you place it in the microwave. The top part of the cardboard disk has a silver-colored coating. I place this silver-side face up (per the directions), and put the pizza on top of it. The pizza almost completely covers the disk.
I have noticed that after a couple of minutes the pizza crust gets heated very well but the cheese and toppings are still cold. The only way to heat the topping is to take out the disk and put the pizza on a paper towel and then nuke it some more. Why is this? I know it's a silly question but I was wondering how the reflective material under the pizza is directing the microwaves. Thanks.

 

[Pieter Kuiper]

The silvery cardboard thing is _absorbing_ the microwaves, so it gets hot. It is heating the pizza like a pan pizza is heated. This prevents the pizza crust from getting soggy.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Thanks.
I thought the silvery stuff would reflect microwaves instead of absorb them. Why aren't microwaves reflected the way visible light is reflected off shiny surfaces?

 

[Pieter Kuiper]

Because of the difference in frequency. Microwaves are a million times slower than visible light. The electrons in metals move with the electric field of the microwaves, as in a resistor. The field accelerates the electrons, they lose energy to the lattice, and the resistor gets warm.

But with visible light the electrons are wiggled back and forth many times before an interaction in which they lose energy to the lattice normally takes place, and this wiggling in its turn sets up the reflected wave.

 

[Math Is Hard]

That is so cool! I never knew that. Thanks, Pieter!

 

[Chronos]

Metals get hot when microwaved, as Peter noted. I know this firsthand. My granny used to dry silverware in her microwave [she was in her 80's and a bit addled]. She set a number of dish towels on fire, but never blew up the microwave. I never did figure that out.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Metals get hot when microwaved, as Peter noted. I know this firsthand. My granny used to dry silverware in her microwave [she was in her 80's and a bit addled]. She set a number of dish towels on fire, but never blew up the microwave. I never did figure that out.

I guess that silvery coating is specially formulated so it gets hot but not too hot. Microwaving something metal is something I always secretly wanted to do just to see what would happen. That, and licking a frozen flagpole in the dead of winter.

 

[Gokul43201]

It's not such a terrible thing to put a metal object into the microwave for a little bit. It'll just get hot fast,'cause the fields are accelerating the elctrons, as Pieter explained. Microwaves are more robust than most people imagine...as chronos and his granny will testify.

I've played with putting different weird things into my microwave :

A large, rusty (and the rusty bit is essential) metal hammer sat in my microwave for about a minute. Nothing happened.

Air-blown soaps, like Ivory, are fun to put into a microwave. They fill the microwave with soap foam.

CDs are fun too...I've put countless AOL CDs in the microwave.

Some freshly cut fruits (lots of electrons in an electrolytic solution) are real good. A freshly gut grape (if cut just right) will ionize the air in the microwave and create a beatuful plasma ball in the microwave. Getting this to work repeatedly is a little hazardous to your microwave oven.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Wow! Gokul, you have given me lots of ideas for experiments. In the past, I have limited myself to the nuking of little green plastic army men. There's just a whole new world of things to play with! The grape thing sounds reallllly cool. I am getting a new microwave oven soon, so the old one can be abused a little.

What happens to the AOL CDs? Anything cool?

 

[Gokul43201]

What happens to the AOL CDs? Anything cool?

Cool ?! : It's better than watching 4th of July fireworks !

 

[Chronos]

Raw egg still in the shell [very impressive]
Fresh banana still in the peel
one minute souffles [very tricky]
Fresh whole shrimp
Caviar
brass wire brush, paper towels, and oven cleaner [do not mw, just have available]

 

[rhia]

Because of the difference in frequency. Microwaves are a million times slower than visible light. The electrons in metals move with the electric field of the microwaves, as in a resistor. The field accelerates the electrons, they lose energy to the lattice, and the resistor gets warm.

But with visible light the electrons are wiggled back and forth many times before an interaction in which they lose energy to the lattice normally takes place, and this wiggling in its turn sets up the reflected wave.

Great! I need to know how this happens in more detail.Any links,pointers?

thanks

 

[Pieter Kuiper]

rhia: I cannot find much on the web. HyperPhysics explains resistivity in metals.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/ohmmic.html

In Nave's exampel of copper, the relaxation time \tau=\frac{m_e\sigma}{ne^2}= \frac{d}{v_F} = 2.5\times 10^{-14} seconds.
This corresponds to frequencies in the near infrared.

The conductivity at high frequencies goes down around the inverse relaxation time and the phase of the response changes. The complex frequency-dependent conductivity can be expressed as
\sigma(\omega)=\frac{\sigma_0}{1-i\omega\tau}.

 

[Gonzolo]

I put a boiled egg with the shell in the microwave once. I remember it was a pretty loud noise.

 

[alexepascual]

I put an egg in the microwave too years ago. It exploded as I was taking it out. It made a mess. Threre was egg everywhere, even on the ceiling. I would suggest that if you try this you wear goggles. I didn't do it as an experiment but just out of ignorance. (I am wiser now)

 

[Cosmo16]

Gokul- How do you have to cut the grape?

My mom will kill me if she sees this.?

 

[Math Is Hard]

My mom will kill me if she sees this.?

LMAO!

 

[Gokul43201]

Gokul- How do you have to cut the grape?

My mom will kill me if she sees this.?

At this point I disclaim any responsibility for the well-being of your microwave oven.

That said :

This has a low success rate, you may have to go through 3 or 4 grapes before you get one to work, but when it does, it's really worth it.

You'll need a good, sharp knife, so be careful.

1. Cut the (seedless) grape in half, and use one of the 2 halves,
2. Put this half-grape down, resting on its curved surface, with the flat (freshly cut surface) facing up towards you,
3. Cut this again, starting from the flat surface and slicing downwards (to the south pole), but stop just short of cutting it into 2 separate pieces,
4. Now you have 2 quarters, just barely attached to each other. Pull these quarters slightly apart, so they are not completely in contact. Do not separate them completely...you just want to create a small wedge-shaped air gap.

That should do it. Again, be careful !

Best of luck !

 

[Gokul43201]

I should also warn you, that this may leave a black burn mark on the inside of your microwave, if you're unlucky !

PS : This just struck me...have you been trying the other objects out ? How did those work ?

 

[Chandler]

Man reading a post like this on any other site would just be boring eh :)

 

[Tachyon son]

To add some (serious) freakness to the topic:

How about introducing some radioactive material into the microwave?
What kind of interaccion should we expect?

 

[colinr]

The coolest thing i ever saw in a microwave was this. Fill a glass with milk, put an ordinary tungsten filament light bulb so that the metal part is completely immersed in the milk. Put the glass in the microwave and the bulb will light up!

It looks amazing, but still to this day I can't explain it, does anybody know why this works. (try it if you don't believe me - it will not damage your microwave or the bulb)

 

[JosephRombousky]

the light bulb thing sounds cool, but i can't understand how that could possibly ever work either. you need a flow of current, if both anode and cathode are in the electrolylte(milk) their shouldn't be any current flow. Unless the filament itself is being excided, and the milk is just a ground or something...

 

[Gokul43201]

I suspect this may simply be from the ionization of the gas (argon?) in the bulb. The milk only serves as a coolant/protection from sparks - only guessing - as i can't see what other functional purpose it serves.

Try this with a broken (filament) bulb, and if it still glows, you can be sure it's not from a current in the filament.

Actually, I'm going to try this when I get home.

PS : I would not do this for too long...if you really heat up the gas in the bulb, might it not rupture at some point ?

 

[Math Is Hard]

OMG! I just tried this, but I suspended the light bulb in water instead of milk. It sure enough worked! I used a blue glass to see the glow better and it lit right up!

 

[Chronos]

I am afraid to even suggest any truly weird microwave experiments. Obviously they will be tried.

 

[Gokul43201]

Okay, I put a broken bulb into my microwave (for about 2 seconds), and it lit up, as expected. Now, I'm almost certain it's the ionization of the gas that does it.

Chronos, please don't hold back...but if there are dangers with any of your ideas, mention what such might be.

 

[Chronos]

DISCLAIMER: Users of information in this post agree to and assume total responsibility for the consequences of anything that happens, including nothing: which is also the maximum extent of liability assumed by the poster.WARNING: risk of damage to microwave oven

1] wrap aluminum foil around a pencil forming a leak tight tube about 1/4" in diameter and 1" long. Prop or tape tube, open end up, in small ashtray or similar noncombustible object.

2] Soak toothpick in rubbing alchol and drop toothpick in tube. Place tube assembly in middle of microwave [toothpick up, of course]. Set microwave to Hi and timer to 30 seconds. Ignite toothpick, shut door and press 'Start'. Turn microwave off after first display [if any]

3]Repeat step 2, repositioning tube assembly, if no display.

 

[Chronos]

DISCLAIMER: Users of information in this post agree to and assume total responsibility for the consequences of anything that happens, including nothing: which is also the maximum extent of liability assumed by the poster.
WARNING: risk of damage to microwave oven

Place small ball [~1" diameter] of steel wool on pyrex saucer. Cook 30 seconds on Hi.

 

[Gokul43201]

I've cooked steel wool before so the fiery toothpick it is !

 

[Chronos]

Fluffy the steel wool up a bit and add a tiny bit of graphite powder under it [pencil lead shavings].

 

[theriddler876]

Okay, I put a broken bulb into my microwave (for about 2 seconds), and it lit up, as expected. Now, I'm almost certain it's the ionization of the gas that does it..

if it's a broken bulb it there will be no gas but regular air in it, since it diffused out, the microwaves are the exact frequency for tungsten so it exites it's electrons to a diffrent orbital, and as they go down to ground state, or a diffrent orbital it emits a photon.

also the argon gas is inert and is only added there so the metal filament will not react. if you put regular air (ie oxygen-nitrogen) mix, the filament most surely will react with the oxygen quickly and it wouldn't last very long. ionization how youre talking about would only apply to neon lights where you have a gas and electricity is run through, but no filament involved

 

[theriddler876]

\ The only way to heat the topping is to take out the disk and put the pizza on a paper towel and then nuke it some more. Why is this?

this is because a microwave works because the frequency of vibration of water molecules is exactly equal that of microwaves, so when you have two alike frequencies and you match them up, you create constructed interference. I mean for example visible light has a lot more engergy than microwaves, but they do not have the right frequency.

this constructive interference then exites the molecules of water so that they heat up. the disk absorbs the microwaves and heats up, then it radiates it's heat onto the pizza, this is how a convention oven works. however the crust heats up at diffrent rates than the topings, which contain a lot of water. so when you take the disk, then the water molecules can get excited since the disk no longer shields them, and thus heat up.

this is how popcorn works. there is water inside the kernel, now the microwaves make the water vibrate higher, since it's the frequency, thus increasing it's engergy, so then this water turns into vapor, and it builds enough pressure to eventually pop the kerne.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Has anyone tried microwaving a flourescent light bulb? I guess finding one that fits would be a challenge.

 

[DaveC426913]

Gramma Chronos' silverware

"...My granny used to dry silverware in her microwave ..."

I can see her missing the light show going on inside the microwave, but once she took her silverware out, didn't she ever wonder about the invisible dwarf woodpeckers that nested inside her microwave and ate holes in the silverware?

(They would have become heavily pockmarked as bits of silver were vapourized.)

 

[cepheid]

Indeed...I threw a plastic jar of peanut butter straight from the fridge into the microwave for around 15-20 seconds, just to make it easier to spread, and next thing I knew there was a popping noise and the whole inside of the microwave was lit up. What was it? A tiny bit of the foil used to seal the top of the jar still left around its rim...

 

[Ba]

Math Is Hard Has anyone tried microwaving a flourescent light bulb? I guess finding one that fits would be a challenge.

Flourescent bulbs, they explode on their own without much trouble, do you really want a microwave bomb.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Flourescent bulbs, they explode on their own without much trouble, do you really want a microwave bomb.

Maybe!

 

[Moonbear]

Wow, this is a fascinating thread! Since I've just loaned out my only spare microwave, and am sure my homeowner's insurance doesn't cover things I explode in the microwave on purpose, I think I'll skip trying any of the demos suggested.

Though, MIH, that silvery thingy is supposed to give you a crispy crust. The people who make those pizzas are supposed to make it just so that you get a hot pizza throughout with a crispy bottom. If the bottom of your pizza is burning while the top is still frozen, look for that questions/complaints number on the box and tell them. They might listen and do a better job getting everything made in a shape/way that will get it to cook more evenly, or, at worst, they do nothing but send you a coupon for a free replacement pizza.

 

[GroupCaptainMandrake]

Not too long back, Mythbusters devoted a segment to fun with microwave ovens. A sheet of aluminum foil did nothing, while a ball of foil generated a light show. Something abou the availability of irregular surfaces. They also took a run at the "explosive water" legend, proving it to be false with regard to ordinary tap water and true with regard to distilled.

Just for luck, I take the Alton Brown approach and put a chopstick in the water to give the bubbles something to climb.

 

[Math Is Hard]

More fun with Microwaves:
http://www.powerlabs.org/uwavexp.htm
the Ball Lightning experiments are fascinating.

I have not heard of this "exploding water" business. Must go find out what that's all about...

Moonbear, you're right. I should see if I can get some free coupons or something from the frozen dinner company.

 

[Gokul43201]

Not too long back, Mythbusters devoted a segment to fun with microwave ovens. A sheet of aluminum foil did nothing, while a ball of foil generated a light show. Something abou the availability of irregular surfaces. They also took a run at the "explosive water" legend, proving it to be false with regard to ordinary tap water and true with regard to distilled.

Just for luck, I take the Alton Brown approach and put a chopstick in the water to give the bubbles something to climb.

Ah...someone else who enjoys Mythbusters and Alton Brown !

 

[Integral]

Within the last week, I was talking to my wife while she heated water for a cup'a. As I watched she removed the cup of hot water from the microwave and introduced a spoonful of powder. The water instantly foamed into a grapefruit sized ball sitting on top of the cup which lasted for only an instant. The end result was that the more then half of the cup of water was on the counter top. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I am not sure I would have believed it.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Integral, what the heck was that powder?

 

[Integral]

Integral, what the heck was that powder?

It was one of the flavors of the International Coffee brand.

She mixes this same thing up nearly everyday, this is the first time an explosion has occurred.

 

[Integral]

if it's a broken bulb it there will be no gas but regular air in it, since it diffused out, the microwaves are the exact frequency for tungsten so it exites it's electrons to a diffrent orbital, and as they go down to ground state, or a diffrent orbital it emits a photon.

also the argon gas is inert and is only added there so the metal filament will not react. if you put regular air (ie oxygen-nitrogen) mix, the filament most surely will react with the oxygen quickly and it wouldn't last very long. ionization how youre talking about would only apply to neon lights where you have a gas and electricity is run through, but no filament involved

I read "broken" to mean burnt out with the bulb still in tact. Argon can be ionized, this should result in emission of light.

Perhaps this should be done with a clear bulb. You could then tell if the light is comming from the gas or the filiment. My bet is on the gas.

 

[slbirla71]

It was one of the flavors of the International Coffee brand.

She mixes this same thing up nearly everyday, this is the first time an explosion has occurred.

Recnetly I have been doing scentifc studies to expalin all these phenomenon by phyiscs governing laws.

when liquid materials are subjected to Microwave, the product temeprature rise continously beyond the boiling point. Once you put external object in the superheated liquid, it breaks down the equilibirum and the liquid starts to boil. In scientic jargon it is called Boiling eruption.

 

[GTrax]

Microwaves are a million times slower than visible light.

Huh? Er.. No! The microwaves I use definitely travel at the speed of light! Maybe you mean the net electron drift in conductors.

 

[KLoux]

Huh? Er.. No! The microwaves I use definitely travel at the speed of light! Maybe you mean the net electron drift in conductors.

I think he was referring to the frequency of the wave.

-Kerry

 

[repollo]

From a microwave pizza to bulbs and what-not in the microwave this is crazy, are you going to start talking Tesla-coils on me now? Cause that would be really interesting...

And to try to revive this thread again because of its interestingness:

All of this weird stuff happens in the microwaves because of the magnetron making the microwaves of course, it would be really interesting too if everyone could start making more complex chemical reactions inside the microwave oven, i.e. gas ionization, extraction of Hydrogen from H2O maybe(not saying is possible, but interesting), who knows maybe someone will revolutionize the way we think about our slacker-cooking-machine, and then everyone will have two MW ovens in their home, one in the kitchen(obviously) and one in the basement lab. That would be really funny making complex reaction with microwaves... anyways ill stop my blatant now and let you guys keep at it...