Why don't bugs get killed in the microwave?

[leroyjenkens]

Whenever I cook something in my microwave, sometimes there will be a bug in it and it won't be affected by the microwave. It'll just walk around inside the microwave while the food is cooking. How is it able to do that without getting cooked itself?

Thanks.

 

[mgb_phys]

In a domestic microwave the pattern of the power isn't very even - there are hot spots and unheated spots.
That's why the have a turntable - to average out the power into the food.
The ant just stays in the cool bits and walks away from the hot spots.

If you want to test it (and make a mess) put evenly spaced chocolate chips on a plate and take out the turntable - you will see that only about half the chips are melted.