I want to start by saying that I understand some of the stuff and I guess this should be more of an explanation like I’m 10 or 15. I know polar molecules and heat result from kinetic energy among molecules in rotation, vibration, and translation so I kind of get that dielectric heating works by moving the molecules around. I also understand light waves and frequency and some basic circuitry. The thing that I struggle to understand is the choice in frequency for microwaves. What makes other nonionizing frequencies not as good as microwaves and how is it able to release so much energy/food absorbs so much energy with low-frequency waves.
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If the light *has* to be nonionizing, then we’re essentially stuck with:
1. Visible light. This does not penetrate super well into food, is hard to generate in necessary quantities. It would also be blinding if you *did*. This would just sear the surface if you tried to cook too fast with it.
2. Infrared light. Marginally better penetration than visible light, and significantly easier to generate. Lots of cooking uses infrared light.
3. Radio waves. The radio spectrum is huge. Really low frequencies are hard to generate but penetrate well, really high frequencies are hard(er) to generate and penetrate poorly. Microwaves use a middle of the road frequency that is easy to generate with a magnetron and penetrates moderately well.
Microwaves have the edge of penetration over conventional infrared/convective cooking, so they are used for “fast” cooking.
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