[ cillian's low irish timbre is rich with amusement, but he takes pity on someone who's willing to admit they don't know something and ask for understanding. not like there's google here, after all. ]
Erm, all right, I'll give it a shot. Though if you're listening to this and you don't want a lengthy explanation about the insides of microwaves, best to stop the message now, eh? I bang on.
Right. I dunno what I'm workin' with here, in terms of your general knowledge, but in my universe, it was sometime in the nineteenth century when science discovered electromagnetic waves. The magnetron in a microwave produces invisible electromagnetic waves, directed into the Faraday cage, that's the main box, and they bounce around off the metal walls. When they touch food, they stimulate the molecules of water and sugar and the like, and the friction of the moving molecules generates heat, which in turn heats up whatever's not excited by the electromagnetic waves.
Erm, so the thing about metal is, instead of molecules of metal getting excited and makin' heat, they reflect back the elecromagnetic waves. But they also pick up a sort of charge from the electricity 'cause they're fuckin' conductive. When it's just the box around the outside, that's not so bad, since the microwave's built to stop that electric charge doin' much in the way of damage. But put some metal in the middle — something like silver — and suddenly you've got this charged up piece of metal, and all that electricity has nowhere to go, so it sparks, maybe even manages to arc itself through the air — 'specially if there's steam, electricity loves water — and that can burn a hole in your Faraday cage, wreck your magnetron, or, if you're unlucky, short circuit your whole microwave. In extreme cases you might even start a fire. Depends on what shitty materials your microwave's made of and if the heat of the electricity can set 'em on fire.
voice.
Erm, all right, I'll give it a shot. Though if you're listening to this and you don't want a lengthy explanation about the insides of microwaves, best to stop the message now, eh? I bang on.
Right. I dunno what I'm workin' with here, in terms of your general knowledge, but in my universe, it was sometime in the nineteenth century when science discovered electromagnetic waves. The magnetron in a microwave produces invisible electromagnetic waves, directed into the Faraday cage, that's the main box, and they bounce around off the metal walls. When they touch food, they stimulate the molecules of water and sugar and the like, and the friction of the moving molecules generates heat, which in turn heats up whatever's not excited by the electromagnetic waves.
Erm, so the thing about metal is, instead of molecules of metal getting excited and makin' heat, they reflect back the elecromagnetic waves. But they also pick up a sort of charge from the electricity 'cause they're fuckin' conductive. When it's just the box around the outside, that's not so bad, since the microwave's built to stop that electric charge doin' much in the way of damage. But put some metal in the middle — something like silver — and suddenly you've got this charged up piece of metal, and all that electricity has nowhere to go, so it sparks, maybe even manages to arc itself through the air — 'specially if there's steam, electricity loves water — and that can burn a hole in your Faraday cage, wreck your magnetron, or, if you're unlucky, short circuit your whole microwave. In extreme cases you might even start a fire. Depends on what shitty materials your microwave's made of and if the heat of the electricity can set 'em on fire.
Any questions?