SPECIAL FEATURE: FOOD PHYSICS

www.iop.org/journals/physed

Physics of the microwave oven

Michael Vollmer
Physikalische Technik, Fachhochschule Brandenburg, Magdeburger Straße 50,
14770 Brandenburg, Germany
E-mail: vollmer@fh-brandenburg.de

Abstract
This is the first of two articles about the physics of microwave ovens. This
article deals with the generation of microwaves in the oven and includes the
operation of the magnetrons, waveguides and standing waves in resonant
cavities. It then considers the absorption of microwaves by foods, discussing
the dielectric relaxation of water, penetration depths of electromagnetic
waves in matter and, in considering the possible chemical changes during
the microwave heating, multi-photon ionization or dissociation.

What are microwaves? 1. Microwave oven

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves. Their Waveguide
frequencies (wavelengths) are in the range from
300 MHz (λ = 1 m) up to 300 GHz (λ =
1 mm). Regarding wavelengths as typical spatial
Magnetron
dimensions, one realizes that microwaves do not
have dimensions of µm, as might be expected from Fan
the misleading ‘micro’ in their name. Following
international conventions, microwave ovens at Power supply
home or in restaurants operate at frequencies of Turntable
about 2.45 GHz, i.e. λ = 12.23 cm. and baseplate
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of a typical microwave
oven.
Physics of a microwave oven
Figure 1 depicts a typical microwave oven (many
details can be found in [1–3]). Microwaves conventional cooking facilities such as grills, oven
are generated in a magnetron which feeds via a heaters and even refrigeration.
waveguide into the cooking chamber. This cuboid
chamber has metallic walls and so acts as a Faraday Interaction of microwaves with metals
cage. The front door, made of glass, and the light Microwaves, incident on the metal walls of the
bulb cavity are both covered by metal grids. The oven, behave similarly to visible light hitting a
holes in the grids are small compared with the silver mirror (e.g. [4]). The microwaves are
wavelength of the microwaves, hence the grids act absorbed very effectively, since the electric fields
just like metal plates. of the waves interact very strongly with the nearly
Most microwaves cook the food on a rotating free electrons of the metal. In a simple model, the
turntable in this chamber, but some designs include electron behaviour is described as a damped forced
a rotating reflector, acting as a stirrer. Expensive oscillation. These accelerated electrons re-radiate
models may include thermometers, additional electromagnetic waves at the same frequency and

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 Physics of the microwave oven

in phase, hence the microwaves are perfectly 2. The magnetron

reflected. Macroscopically, this behaviour is
described by the complex dielectric constant ε(ω),
which is the square of the complex refractive index
(ε1 + iε2 = (n1 + in2 )2 ). Resonator
The refractive index of many metals gives
reflectivities close to 100% at low frequencies.
The penetration depth of electromagnetic waves
Anode
of wavelength λ is given by
Cathode
δ = λ/4πn2 . (1)

For example, for microwaves with λ = 12.2 cm

incident on aluminium, δ ≈ 1.2 µm.
These are similar to skin depths, i.e. the
attenuation depths of alternating currents of
frequency ω in metals. (The relation between skin
depth and refractive index for small frequencies is
discussed, e.g., by Feynman [5].) Coupling loop

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a magnetron.

Generating microwaves in magnetrons
The most powerful microwaves produced by solid
frequencies, which in turn leads to self-sustaining
state devices, such as used in cell phones, are far
oscillations of the resonant cavities. Part of the
too weak for cooking. Instead electron beams in
vacuum tubes under the combined effect of electric microwave power is extracted by a coupling loop
and magnetic fields are made to follow curved (for more details, see [1–3]).
trajectories (the detailed mechanism for which is The magnetrons in domestic microwave ovens
described below). Most microwave ovens use emit microwaves at 2.45 GHz (repeatable, each
magnetrons. First invented in 1921 and strongly time the magnetron is switched on, to ±10 MHz)
improved around 1940, magnetrons allow either with bandwidths of only a few MHz [6].
continuous or pulsed microwave generation with
powers up to megawatts and frequencies between Connecting the magnetron with the cooking
1 and 40 GHz. Efficiencies are around 80% and chamber: the waveguide
lifetimes about 5000 hours.
A cylindrical cathode is at the axis, Waveguides carry the microwaves from the
several millimetres from a hollow circular anode magnetron to the cooking chamber. They are
(figure 2). Inside the anode there are a number usually metal tubes of rectangular cross section.
cavities designed to resonate at 2.45 GHz. A The effect of the boundary conditions of the tubes
voltage of several kV is applied between the leads to electric and magnetic field distributions
electrodes and a magnetic field is applied parallel which, in each of the two directions perpendicular
to the axis such that electric and magnetic fields to the axis, resemble standing waves [1, 5]. These
are perpendicular to each other. are quite similar to standing waves on the ‘one-
Electrons ejected by the cathode accelerate dimensional’ string of a guitar. Consequently,
radially at first, but because of the magnetic field there is a maximum wavelength, λmax , which can
they start to follow cycloidal paths. If the magnetic be transported by the waveguide. For a given
field is strong enough, the electrons cannot reach direction perpendicular to the axis, the inner tube
the anode but form a rotating space charge. The size is then just λmax /2. Therefore, a waveguide
resonant cavities of the anode interact with the filled with air which operates at 2.45 GHz (λ =
electrons by either accelerating or decelerating 12.2 cm) must have at least one inner dimension
them. Finally this leads to electron bunches larger than 6.1 cm. Usually, the waveguide has a
which move around the cathode at microwave smaller size in a perpendicular direction. Filling

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Standing waves in microwave ovens

The solution of the three-dimensional wave equation with boundary conditions (see e.g. [1]) gives
standing waves in the three dimensions x, y and z, which altogether obey the equation
1 1 1 1
= 2 + 2 + 2. (2)
λ2 λx λ y λ z

The wavelengths λx , λy and λz are determined by the linear dimensions Lx , Ly and Lz of the
chamber:
λx λy λz
Lx = l Ly = m Lz = n (3)
2 2 2
where l, m, n are natural numbers. The solutions for given (l, m, n) are denoted as modes of the
resonator. Obviously equation (2) allows more than one possibility to satisfy the same given
value of λ. In commercial microwave ovens, the dimensions Lx , Ly and Lz scatter appreciably;
e.g., a survey of about 20 different ovens gave values of Lx = 28–35 cm, Ly = 27–33 cm and
Lz = 17–21 cm. In the following an example with Lx = 29 cm, Ly = 29 cm and Lz = 19 cm
will be discussed. Equations (2) and (3) allow a number of resonator frequencies which lie close
to the emitted magnetron frequency. Table 1 demonstrates that there are six possible solutions in
the wavelength range between 12 cm and 12.5 cm.
The quality factor Q [1, 7] is a measure of the energy losses and, hence, also the frequency
width ω of the modes. Q gives the ratio of the energy stored in the resonator and the energy
loss per cycle:
Q = ωE/(dE/dt). (4)
For Q  1 this may be written as
Q ≈ ω/ω. (5)
The energy losses are due to four factors. First, microwaves may exit through the housing of the
microwave oven. Safety regulations ensure that this contribution is negligibly small. Second,
losses occur due to absorption in the walls, third due to absorption in the food within in the
cooking chamber (the desired mechanism), and fourth, there is the chance that microwaves are
coupled back into the magnetron. The latter mechanism may play a role if the oven is used empty,
and it should be avoided in order to ensure a long lifetime of the magnetron. The overall quality
factor can be calculated from
1/Q = 1/Q1 + 1/Q2 + . . . . (6)
If the oven is used empty, wall losses are most important. They can be estimated from the
penetration depth δ [1, 7]:
Qempty ≈ V /Sδ (7)
where V is the volume and S the inner surface area of the chamber. Typically, with air-filled
volumes of about 29 × 29 × 19 cm3 and δ ≈ 1 µm one finds Q-values of the order of 104 . For
frequencies of 2.45 GHz, this leads to frequency widths of only 0.25 MHz, i.e. the resonance
modes are very narrow compared with the magnetron frequency width. Figure 3 depicts
schematically a frequency spectrum of the modes of a cooking chamber. If some water containing
food is placed in the chamber, i.e. a dielectric is inserted, the additional losses—being much
larger than the wall losses—lead to a shift of the resonances to lower frequencies as well as an
appreciable broadening of the modes. Due to the shifts and broadening, described by a quality
factor that may well be of the order of 102 , more than one resonator mode may be excited. The
larger the oven and the more losses are present, the more modes may be excited simultaneously.
These multimode cavities have a more homogeneous field distribution, which is desirable for
many applications, including cooking.

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 Physics of the microwave oven

3. How varies

(a)
1000

Q
(b)

100
Figure 4. Visualization of the horizontal mode
structure in a microwave oven using infrared thermal
imaging. A glass plate with a thin water film was
placed at a height of 8 cm and heated for 15 s with a
Frequency microwave power of 800 W without using the turntable
(for more details on the experiment, see [10]).
Figure 3. Schematic diagram showing how Q varies
with frequency for two different modes of resonance
in a microwave oven (not to scale): (a) with oven the wavelength of the microwaves is roughly the
empty, (b) with food. The shaded band shows the same as the linear dimensions of the chamber.
frequency of the magnetron. If drawn to scale the
widths of the modes in (b) would be about 100 times An ideal microwave oven cooks all food
those in (a). evenly but the nodes and antinodes of the standing
waves can cause the food to burn in some places but
Table 1. All modes of a microwave oven of to remain cool in others. The homogeneity of the
dimensions 29 cm × 29 cm × 19 cm, which lead to a field distribution may be estimated theoretically
wavelength in the interval 12.0 cm < λ0 < 12.5 cm. from the number of modes that may be excited
Four modes are quite close to the magnetron within a narrow frequency range close to the
wavelength of 12.25 cm.
magnetron frequency (see below) or studied
λ0 (cm) l m n experimentally [8].
12.103 1 1 3 Figure 4 shows the intensity distribution
12.274 2 4 1 within an oven of 29 × 29 × 19 cm3 at a
12.274 4 2 1 height of about 8 cm. A horizontal glass plate
12.277 2 3 2 covered with a thin film of water was placed in
12.277 3 2 2 a microwave (without its rotating turntable) on
12.375 0 1 3
full power (800 W) for about 15 s. The false
colour image was obtained with a thermal infrared
the waveguide with a dielectric shifts the cut- camera [9]. With only a small amount of water
off frequency and wavelength. Because only present, the image shows the microwave intensity
one inner dimension is greater than the cut-off distribution in a nearly empty chamber. There is
length the microwaves leaving the waveguide a pronounced horizontal mode structure, which
are polarized. As the waves are reflected in would lead to uneven heating of food. This is the
the cooking chamber the degree of polarization reason for having a rotating turntable: the rotation
decreases. will move the food in and out of the hot spots.
Some ovens have a mode stirrer, i.e. a rotating
reflector at the top to get a more homogeneous
The cooking chamber: why do microwave ovens field distribution, and there are investigations into
use a rotating turntable? how geometrical changes of the wall structure
Once the microwaves have been coupled into the may improve the situation. More details on
cooking chamber, they are effectively reflected by experiments on horizontal and vertical modes and
the metallic walls. The waves resonate in the also on changes of the mode structure upon filling
cavity and form standing waves. The analysis of of the cooking chamber with food will be discussed
these standing waves is simplified by the fact that in the following article [10].

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5. Dielectric constant and temperature

Frequency in GHz
0.3 3 30 300 3000

0 °C
80
20 °C
40 °C
60 60 °C
80 °C
ε1 and ε2

100 °C
40 Domestic
microwave 0 °C
frequency=2.45 GHz 20 °C

20 40 °C
60 °C
80 °C
100 °C
0
100 10 1 0.1 0.01
Wavelength in cm

Figure 5. Real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant ε(ω) for microwaves and various temperatures
between 0 °C and 100 °C (after [12]).

Heating of food in a microwave oven Quantitatively, the average microwave power

Absorption of microwaves by water absorbed by a dielectric may be written as [1, 11]
Electromagnetic waves may be absorbed by
P = ωε0 ε2 Eeff
2
V (8)
matter in many different ways depending on their
wavelength and the state of the matter (gas, liquid, where V is the volume of the dielectric and Eeff
solid). Free atoms and molecules usually absorb the square of the average electric field within this
ultraviolet (UV) by excitation of electrons whereas
volume. ε2 is the imaginary part of the dielectric
in the infrared, excitation of molecular vibrations
constant ε = ε1 + iε2 . For pure liquid water,
and/or rotations dominates. Free and undisturbed
the changes of ε1 (ω) and ε2 (ω) are displayed
rotations cannot occur in liquid water due to
schematically in figure 5 for various temperatures.
the interactions with neighbouring molecules but
These curves are considered to be typical for most
solids and liquids may absorb microwaves due to
kinds of food containing water.
the polarization induced by the external oscillating
electric field. In a microwave oven, the electrically At first glance it is clear that ε1 and ε2
dipolar water molecules absorb most of the both strongly depend on temperature. For fixed
microwave energy. temperature, say 20 ◦ C, ε1 starts from the static
In low frequency electric fields the dipoles value of about 80, then decreases in the GHz
easily follow the changes in the field and their range and finally reaches a value of about 1.78
orientation changes in phase with the field. At at optical frequencies (which would give the well
higher frequencies the inertia of the molecules and known refractive index of water in the visible
their interactions with neighbours make changing n ≈ 1.33). At the same time, ε2 shows a
orientation more difficult and the dipoles lag pronounced maximum around 20 GHz. For
behind the field. Finally, at very high frequencies increasing temperature, both functions drop in size
(1–10 THz) the molecules can no longer respond and shift to higher frequencies. Therefore the
to the electric field. At the GHz frequency of a temperature rise of a piece of food depends on its
microwave oven the phase lag of the dipoles behind starting temperature (see [10])!
the electric field absorbs power from the field. This Since food is usually heated from about room
is known as dielectric loss due to dipole relaxation. temperature to, say, 100 ◦ C, figure 5 suggests that

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 Physics of the microwave oven

6. Absorption in water α
10−3 cm−1 in the visible, which leads to

δ well above 10 m for clear water, i.e. the high
108 1010 1012 1014 1016
transmission of water experienced every day.
refractive index

10
Figure 6 also explains why microwave ovens
Real part of

5
use a frequency of about 2.45 GHz rather than
1
20 to 1000 GHz, as may have been guessed from
VIS figure 5. With increasing frequency, α increases
106 rapidly, i.e. the penetration depth δ = 1/α
decreases rapidly. The food in microwave ovens
has typical dimensions of the order of cm, and
Absorption coefficient α/cm—1

104
hence the penetration depth should be in this range.
With a frequency of 20 GHz, the penetration depth
102 would be much smaller, i.e. the energy would
be absorbed in a thin surface layer of the food
100 (toasting the food) while the interior would remain
cold. The lower frequency chosen results in
10—2 absorption of the microwaves everywhere in the
λ = 12 cm food. Therefore the surface will only get a brown
crust if additional grilling facilities are available.
10—4 λ = 1 cm

108 1010 1012 1014 1016 Frequently asked questions

Frequency/Hz
Does the rate of heating depend on the type of
Figure 6. Absorption coefficient for water from food?
microwaves to the UV (after [7]).
The above discussion applies to pure water, and
undoubtedly the main factor determining the
choosing a frequency between 10 and 100 GHz rate of heating in a food is its water content.
will produce optimum power absorption according However, the salt added to many foods may
to equation (8). As a matter of fact, a different allow an additional heating mechanism. In
physical criterion decides which frequency to solution, the charged Na+ and Cl− ions (with
choose. or without surrounding ion clouds) also react
with the alternating electric field. This leads to
tiny movements of the ions, which may induce
Penetration depths of microwaves in water:
collisions with neighbours, thereby producing
explanation of the frequency used
heat. This behaviour can be seen from the curves
Using ε = n2 one may calculate the imaginary of ε2 (ω) (see e.g. [12]). It may therefore be
part of the refractive index and from this the possible to heat salty food more quickly than pure
absorption coefficient α, which is related to the water (see figure 7 and [13]).
penetration depth δ of the electromagnetic waves
(equation (1)) by α = 1/δ.
Figure 6 gives a crude overview in the form Can ice be melted in a microwave oven?
of a double logarithmic plot of the absorption All microwave ovens come with a defrost facility.
coefficient of water from the microwave region However, it takes much longer to get ice to raise
(0.1 GHz) to the UV region (1016 Hz). Obviously its temperature by 1 ◦ C than it does for a similar
water shows a very pronounced increase of the amount of liquid water. In ice the molecules of
absorption coefficient with frequencies extending H2 O are held in a crystal lattice in fixed positions.
into the IR region. This may even lead to α > 103 The dipoles cannot follow an external field as
cm−1 , which corresponds to penetration depths easily as they can in liquid water, therefore there
δ of less than 10 µm. Between the vibrational is less heating effect. Hence ε2 for ice at 2.45 GHz
excitations in the IR and the electronic excitations is three to four orders of magnitude below that of
in the UV, there is the well known minimum of liquid water (see [14]). As a consequence, the

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7. Dielectric constant of food

gravy x
soup x water
70 mashed x x carrots
potato
x
x peas
60

50 x raw beef
x cooked cod ε1
ε2
x
ε 1, ε 2

40 raw pork cooked beef

x

30
gravy
mashed x
x potato
20 raw x x carrots
raw pork x xbeef peas x soup
x cooked x
cooked cod water x
10 beef

0
60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Water content as a percentage

Figure 7. Dielectric constants of various kinds of food (after [13]).

penetration depth is much larger and less energy of electrical appliances. The radiation level close
is absorbed. to the surface of most ovens amounts to about
It is still much quicker to defrost food in 1% of the allowed limit of 5 mW cm−2 . As you
a microwave than to leave it in air at room get further from the oven the intensity rapidly
temperature. The oven is periodically turned on decreases, such that the usual radiation dose is well
for short periods and then off for longer time below 1/1000 of the maximum permitted value.
intervals. If by chance, some ice has melted at Since a small amount of radiation does escape
some spot, the liquid water will be heated in the from the oven, it is also possible for microwaves to
‘on-phase’. During the ‘off-phase’, the contact of enter the closed oven. This may be demonstrated
this heated water with the surrounding ice melts by putting a cell phone into the oven (turned off!)
more ice such that in the next ‘on-phase’, more and calling it [10].
water will be heated and so on. Most ovens have an ‘off’ button which
simultaneously shuts off the magnetron and opens
the door. Can any lingering radiation escape when
Can microwaves get out of the oven?
this happens? How long will the microwaves
There are very strict regulations governing how remain in the cooking chamber after the magnetron
much radiation is allowed to be emitted from is turned off? Using equation (4) one may easily
microwave ovens: they could be a health risk estimate the decay times of the fields, which
and they could interfere with other electronic depend on the quality factor of the chamber:
apparatus. Because a microwave oven is a Faraday
cage little radiation is expected to escape. The E(t) = E(0) exp(−ωt/Q). (9)
most crucial part is the door, which is equipped For an empty oven (Q = 10 ) the field has decayed
4

with additional so-called λ/4 radiation traps [1]. to less than 1/1000 after a time of about 4.5 µs;
In every country there are official institutions, in if there is food in the oven, reducing Q to about
Germany for example it is the Bundesamt für 102 , the time changes to only 45 ns. Obviously,
Strahlenschutz (BfS) [15], which check the safety nobody can open an oven door that fast.

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 Physics of the microwave oven

Is it possible that microwaves can change the [2] Smith B L and Carpentier M-H 1993 The
food chemically? Microwave Engineering Handbook vols 1–3
(London: Chapman and Hall)
People often assume that microwaved food is [3] Bloomfield L A 1997 How Things Work: The
unhealthy. Could it be chemically different to Physics of Everyday Life (New York: Wiley)
conventionally heated food? For this to happen, [4] Hecht E 1998 Optics 3rd edn (New York:
the microwaves would need to create chemical Addison Wesley)
[5] Feynman R 1974 Feynman Lectures on Physics,
radicals involving energies of the order of an
Vol II, Part 2: Mainly electromagnetism and
electron-volt. Microwave photons have energies matter (New York: Addison
of the order of 10−5 eV. Simple estimates easily Wesley/Oldenbourg)
show [8] that the number of microwave photons [6] Haala J 2000 Analyse von
within a commercial oven is orders of magnitude Mikrowellenheizprozessen mittels
selbstkonsistenter finiter Integrationsverfahren
too small to establish multiphoton dissociation or
Dissertation Universität Karlsruhe
ionization. One may therefore conclude that the [7] Jackson J D 1975 Classical Electrodynamics
food cannot be altered chemically while heated in 2nd edn (New York: Wiley)
a microwave oven. [8] Karstädt D, Möllmann K-P and Vollmer M 2004
Physik in unserer Zeit issues 1 and 2 plus
additional material on the journals homepage
Are microwave ovens only used for heating food? www.wiley-vch.de/home/phiuz (in German)
Microwave ovens are used in many other [9] Karstädt D, Möllmann K-P, Pinno F and Vollmer
industrial fields, e.g. pasteurization of vegetables, M 2001 Phys. Teacher 39 371–6
[10] Parker K and Vollmer M 2004 Phys. Educ. 39
drying of paper or textiles, thermal treatment 82–90
of pharmaceutical products and vulcanization of [11] Föll H, Universität Kiel: www.tf.uni-
rubber and elastomers (see [1, 2]). kiel.de/matwis/amat/elmat en/makeindex.html
[12] Chaplin M, South Bank University, London:
www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/microwave.html
Acknowledgments [13] Bengtsson N E and Ohlsson Th 1974 Proc. IEEE
Stimulating discussions and help with some of the 62 44–55
experiments by Klaus-Peter Möllmann and Detlef [14] Hasted J B 1973 Aqueous Dielectrics (London:
Chapman and Hall)
Karstädt are gratefully acknowledged. [15] Information from the Bundesamt für
Strahlenschutz: 12.8.98, Infoblatt 02/98
Received 24 October 2003 www.bfs.de
PII: S0031-9120(04)71706-2
DOI: 10.1088/0031-9120/39/1/006
Michael Vollmer is a Professor of
experimental physics at Fachhochschule
Brandenburg. He has a Diploma, PhD
and Habilitation from the University of
References Heidelberg. His current activities include
[1] Thuery J 1992 Microwaves, Industrial, Scientific applied research in infrared imaging,
and Medical Applications (Boston, MA: experiments for physics education and
Artech House) teacher training seminars.

January 2004 PHYSICS EDUCATION 81