Larry MooreME 340

Fall 2010

Find the best place to put your food in the microwave for optimal energy transfer

MethodUse a “Kill-A-Watt” meter to measure power to the microwave and a thermocouple to measure water temperature increase, then calculate the efficiency

Assume only microwave energy transfer, ignore any other forms of heat transfer

Assumptions

Goal

The emitter is in the back right side of the microwave unit. Objects placed in front of the emitter heat the fastest.

An object placed in front of the emitter will absorb a great deal of the microwave energy and prevent other objects from heating.

For the above reasons, the turntable promotes even heating by effectively spreading the microwave energy across the items being heated.

The microwave is more efficient when there is more surface area to absorb the radiation.

Interestingly, the microwave requires the same power to run no matter how much is in it

When the microwave is empty, most of the microwave energy is absorbed by the glass plate

Special thanks to Kevin Cole for the equipment