Topic: And another one. Microwaves.

[tim]

I thought that any plain plate,dish or bowl was OK?

Usually m'wave bacon on the serving plate to save washing up. Last night did it on its black plastic tray & it went absol;utely crisp. Just perfect for my baked Potato, but why?? 

[OllieC]

At a guess, the resonant frequency of the polymers in the packaging is a harmonic of the resonant frequency of water. Plastic heats up, cooks from beneath & bingo... Crispy Bacon with a hint of dioxins...

[tim]

Oh! So would microwave ware do the same - is it better than china?

[OllieC]

At the risk of arguing with myself...  ::)

I guess the other possibility is that the steam made it shrivel up? Although this wouldn't explain the nice & crispy effect on the bacon...

I've noticed the same with mince packaging when defrosting in a hurry. It's the almost jellyish plastic, if that makes sense. We also have one china plate that clearly hasn't read it's physics textbooks as it gets incredibly hot when used in the microwave.

I remember my Physics teacher asking us, "if you can't put metal in microwaves, how come they make the insides out of it?". We had to discuss...