... the results are somewhat unexpected.
I had heard that solid ice does not respond to microwaves the way water does, so today while boiling some water for ramen, I also put in the (standard suburban) microwave one ice cube (with a paper towel to catch any meltwater).
The paper towel was unnecessary. After 2 1/2 minutes the water in the measuring cup was in a full rolling boil, but the ice cube was ice cold. There wasn't even a drop of water on the towel beneath.
Posting this so readers can use the info to win bar bets or impress your children at dinner. Or perhaps next time you host a party ask guests to guess "how quickly" will the microwave melt the ice cube.
Addendum: several interesting observations in the comment thread.
Related: Microwaving Ice - why defrosting is so slow. Note: "This is why you shouldn't defrost a chicken on full power..."
Can we go back to why you would ever microwave water for ramen (or tea, or whatever)?
ReplyDeleteIt's a convenient way to get water boiling. Any reason not to?
DeleteYes! There is a reason and you can test it! Microwaved water (like for tea) tastes "bad" - flat and "off". Whereas water boiled in a kettle on the tsove tastes "lively" and "fresh"! Try it.
DeleteLong time follower, first time poster: I don't know how I've made it 42 years without hearing of this! Of course, I emptied my ice cube trays last week to make room for a bunch of stock. Can't wait to try!! (And thank you for the wonderful blog)
ReplyDeleteCheers from Boise :)
Sarah
Greetings, Sarah. Lurkers make up the majority of TYWKIWDBI readership. Glad you're here.
DeleteAnd please know that the loudmouths here are lurkers on other forums....
DeleteGood trick for my grandson
ReplyDeleteOk scientist mind blown. Had to test immediately.
ReplyDeleteThe ice will melt. After 4 minutes, my ice cubes were gone and I had a moist towel left. I suspect a lot of the ice may have sublimated, straight to water vapor.
But it is true that the "ice" molecules lack the mobility to react to the oscillating electric field that heat the "liquid" molecules by making their little dipoles follow the oscillating field. For that they have to turn around a lot and really fast which means they have to move and that causes them to warm up. The field kinda makes them do jumping jacks which we all know makes us hot.
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/get-naked/experiments/microwaving-ice-why-defrosting-so-slow
I'm like Sarah. I tried this with two cubes, on a paper towel, on a glass salad plate. Thirty seconds, and the cubes melted about half way. Does this only work if there is something else being nuked, too?
ReplyDeletebut why? is the bond frequency of soli water no longer in the microwave range?
ReplyDeleteThank you, guys. I'm not at all surprised that some readers here took up the challenge and tested my results.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Paul's comment I decided to retry the experiment with two ice cubes without the measuring up of water in the microwave (?did it "absorb" the microwaves and protect the ice?)
After 30 seconds the ice cubes appeared pristine (as viewed through the screen). Same at 1 minute. But by 1:30 there was moisture on the towel, and at 2:30 there was significant melting. As I took them out, the puddle around the ice cubes was hot to the touch.
So, putting on my English Major cap, I modified the post to eliminate the phrase "nothing happens," substituting "unexpected," and referred future readers to the Comments thread.
Now I have my Retired Scientist cap on and will read the interesting link Nepkarel found.
Back again. Nepkarel's link added to the body of the post. I'm guessing that the variable response times depend in part on the initial state of the ice and the ambient temperature of the room/microwave chamber. Solid ice is resistant to the effects of microwave, but if there are any "soft" areas in the ice or if ambient air creates a microfocus of liquid on the surface of the cube, those areas will heat rapidly. Maybe my being in Madison, Wisconsin and Paul being in Jacksonville was a significant variable.
DeleteLooking forward to sharing this with tweens & teens I know. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a little puzzling to me is that I routinely (daily) put hard-frozen foods into the microwave to cook for meals, without any problems. But the link notes not to defrost a large item using microwaves because of nonuniformity problems. I guess the "peel back plastic and stir" instructions on the power bowls midway through the session take care of that problem.
ReplyDeleteThe key to understanding microwaves is that they are tuned to heat water. Anything else is ancillary. Now, hot water may transfer heat to cold matter it is in contact with.
DeleteSo things that heat well in the microwave are things that are full of water - (frozen) soups, sauces, liquids. Not pizza, meat or eggs.
The aforementioned frozen chicken contains little water (despite all the injected water) so it will not heat well - there is not enough water to cook the chicken properly.
In general, you're not really cooking in a microwave, you're just warming up the water in your food. Cooking and warming up water may overlap, but they are not the same thing.
Also, here's a way to measure the wavelength of your microwaves (and check the speed of light) while making smores in your microwave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwEP-IOUXC8
For those of you who have kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews or neighbor kids, please use this video to blow their little brains and connect science with tasty treats. If you play it well they'll believe you're a wizard, great cook and science mage. Don't announce what you're doing, just follow the steps, do the discoveries ["Hey see some of the chocolate is melted and some not? Let's see how far that is apart..."] and let them sort out the speed of light with age appropriate help in the end. I've seen this done in college classes and it absolutely works. Just make sure the blown brains don't end up on the smores - that's a sticky mess.
(sorry for the shouty video, I could not find a better one quickly).
Apparently, ice is transparent to microwaves (1000 times less absorptive); link with good video experiment.
ReplyDeletehttps://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/wave.html
A quite comprehensive article. Thanks, Bradley.
Delete