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I recently talked to a friend of mine about microwaves.
Specifically that (to my knowlege) the microwave radiation is primarily absorbed by a rotational
degree of freedom of water molecules.
Which got me thinking.
1.First of all what would happen if you put a extremely cold ice cube ( with no liquid water on surface)into the microwave ?
Wouldn't the water in the ice be unable to absorb the radiation because it is bound in the crystal lattice ?
2.Second what happens when you don't put anything into the microwave ?
Resonance catastrophe ?
Is the radiation just absorbed by the walls as the Intensity in the box builds up more and more?
Maybe gas discarge ... that would be cool, but i doubt it would happen.
Is doing it actually dangerous, since a observer might get hit by high levels of microwave radiation "leakage"?
The third question is the one from the title:
Why can't i kill the ice cubes
?
When you freeze(glass) water bottles they will get destroyed by the expansion of water to ice.
But when i put a half frozen ice cube into the microwave and the ice melts form the inside out,
the ice cube doesn't collapse in on itself(implode) because of the contraction.
That was a huge disappointment.
I heard some quiet crackling but no big structural difference can be observed.
3.How are these stresses released ?
Does air somehow enter through cracks ?
BTW If you replicate this make sure you let the ice cubes lay around for a while before putting them
in the microwave, since a surface layer of water might warm the initially cold surface which would make it crack due to thermal shock.
PS I realized something similar must also happen when freezing ice cubes from the inside out...
When the outer shell freezes it takes a shape that would accommodate some volume of water.
However this water expands when freezing and pushes on the outside shell.
I have actually observed the surface bulging out on some ice cubes.
I am confused how it can change shape so much without completely breaking apart.
Could someone explain it ?
Specifically that (to my knowlege) the microwave radiation is primarily absorbed by a rotational
degree of freedom of water molecules.
Which got me thinking.
1.First of all what would happen if you put a extremely cold ice cube ( with no liquid water on surface)into the microwave ?
Wouldn't the water in the ice be unable to absorb the radiation because it is bound in the crystal lattice ?
2.Second what happens when you don't put anything into the microwave ?
Resonance catastrophe ?
Is the radiation just absorbed by the walls as the Intensity in the box builds up more and more?
Maybe gas discarge ... that would be cool, but i doubt it would happen.
Is doing it actually dangerous, since a observer might get hit by high levels of microwave radiation "leakage"?
The third question is the one from the title:
Why can't i kill the ice cubes

When you freeze(glass) water bottles they will get destroyed by the expansion of water to ice.
But when i put a half frozen ice cube into the microwave and the ice melts form the inside out,
the ice cube doesn't collapse in on itself(implode) because of the contraction.
That was a huge disappointment.

I heard some quiet crackling but no big structural difference can be observed.
3.How are these stresses released ?
Does air somehow enter through cracks ?
BTW If you replicate this make sure you let the ice cubes lay around for a while before putting them
in the microwave, since a surface layer of water might warm the initially cold surface which would make it crack due to thermal shock.
PS I realized something similar must also happen when freezing ice cubes from the inside out...
When the outer shell freezes it takes a shape that would accommodate some volume of water.
However this water expands when freezing and pushes on the outside shell.
I have actually observed the surface bulging out on some ice cubes.
I am confused how it can change shape so much without completely breaking apart.
Could someone explain it ?
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