How ants can survive in a microwave

[rxyzm]

Hello,
This is a question that is haunting me when I saw small red ants go in and come out alive of microwave oven that was.

Long story short, I was warming some food item in the microwave oven. When I put the container in the microwave oven, I missed to notice that there were few live red ants in the container.

I heated the container for 50 seconds and then took out the container. When I opened the lid of the container, I saw the red ants coming out alive from the container.

My understanding was, if one puts anything in microwave that contains water, it will get cooked. I also think, for all carbon based life forms, water is an essential ingredient for blood to flow; and, that's why one should ensure that their hand is not in the microwave when it is on.

I am wondering why ants remained alive in the microwave even when they were blasted for 50 seconds?

Warm Regards,

Ravi

 

[Spinnor]

Seems if they can they move to "cool" spots in the microwave. http://www.scientificameriken.com/yr3/micant.asp

Some interesting answers,

https://www.google.com/search?q=how...ome..69i57.13471j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[anorlunda]

Warm Regards,

 

[jim mcnamara]

Randall Munroe has very good explanation on XKCD with comics! ...I always prefer this kind of thing when I can get away with it.

https://what-if.xkcd.com/131/

 

[fresh_42]

The explanation with the standing waves was the first thing that came to my mind as I've read the OP. Now this leaves us with a fundamental problem: Why don't they produce microwaves with a non-trivial precession, e.g. by elliptic plates?

 

[anorlunda]

The explanation with the standing waves was the first thing that came to my mind as I've read the OP. Now this leaves us with a fundamental problem: Why don't they produce microwaves with a non-trivial precession, e.g. by elliptic plates?

Isn't that why the tray rotates? If you put your dish off center on the tray, it should hit both hot and cold spots. Rotating trays also makes it more challenging for ants.

 

[fresh_42]

Isn't that why the tray rotates? If you put your dish off center on the tray, it should hit both got and cold spots. Rotating trays also makes it more challenging for ants.

I'm not sure. If the low is always at the same point, I get concentric warm - cold circles in the round soup tureen. Why should I think about positioning a cup or plate against what architecture suggests, if it could be easily solved by fabrication?

 

[anorlunda]

I seem to remember older microwaves that had a slowly rotating fan in the ceiling with metal blades. I presumed it was there to stir the hot /cold spots. It was too slow to move air.

I don't see those in modern microwaves. I don't know if they are not needed or just moved out of sight.

I think @jim hardy is experienced at taking old microwave ovens apart.

 

[fresh_42]

I just had another thought on why there is no precession. It is to enable ants to survive!

 

[rxyzm]

Welcome.

 

[cave man]

Hot spots or cool spots, it would seem impossible for all three ants to avoid being cooked. Considering a moving dish and the fan, maybe one might survive, but three? This would seem on the order of Spock saying to Kirk that the odds of us making it are 1,321 to 1. Then they make it. Does anyone thing that there is something about the ants that we simply don't know?

 

[BillTre]

One if the links above had an explanation that appeals to me:

This would probably best apply to small ants.
A small ant has a high surface to volume ratio, compared to that of the unusual size of things you might microwave. Its volume it juicy innerds is what will be doing the absorbing of the microwaves and making heat (which will be small), but it will be their relatively high surface area that might be able to transfer the heat to its environment as fast as it is generated.