Ants Are Tougher Than You Think

[lampard10]

Any scientists out there amoungst you? Can you tell me why, if you put a plate of food covered with ants into a microwave,the food cooks but the ants troop out unaffected.

[Simbo]

Jing jing?

[Thaiboxer]

A microwave heats food from the inside out by passing the microwaves through the food and since food contains water (great heat conductor) it cooks easily. As to why ants don't get cooked as easily I can only speculate that perhaps it may have to do with the water content of their bodies. My guess is, ants have less water inside than the food in the microwave does so their bodies won't hold the heat as well allowing them to survive. Tough little guys huh? :lol

[astral]

You would consider eating food with ants on it........................

Ugh!

I hope you do not run a food outlet of any kind??

[chonabot]

Ants are wimps compared to Scorpions!

You can freeze a scorpion . it will survive when thawed out. It will also survive a Nucleur bomb , but not a direct hit.....

[pnustedt]

the food cooks but the ants troop out unaffected.  

You're supposed to fry them first

[chico]

Any scientists out there amoungst you? Can you tell me why, if you put a plate of food covered with ants into a microwave,the food cooks but the ants troop out unaffected.  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

trying to create new high protein food at the fc?

[jayenram]

Can you tell me why, if you put a plate of food covered with ants into a microwave,the food cooks but the ants troop out unaffected.  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I must have missed that dish on the menu!

[chanchao]

> If, on the other hand, you put a thousand ants in your microwave and

> agitate them so that they are running around in a panic, you will, without a

> doubt see many of them turned to toast.

Now that's a major call for a home-experiment if ever there was one..

[Thetyim]

If you put a plate of ant infested food out in the sun the ants will abandon ship, I think (OK hope) that is what the OP was trying to do with the micrwave.

I think the nuking time is dependant on fat content and not water content. Cheese cooks in 10 seconds, warming up a cup of coffee takes forever.

[autonomous_unit]

If you put a plate of ant infested food out in the sun the ants will abandon ship, I think (OK hope) that is what the OP was trying to do with the micrwave.

I think the nuking time is dependant on fat content and not water content.  Cheese  cooks in 10 seconds,  warming up a cup of coffee takes forever.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry to contradict, but it is the water molecule that resonates with the microwave frequencies. The cheese has lots of water in it too. Try heating a piece of really stale dry bread and another piece that has been moistened at the same time...

You can also heat other materials that have free electrons, like pieces of metal, but that is due mainly to the current induced in the material.

What you are witnessing is the different specific heat of cheese and water, namely that a certain volume of cheese absorbs less energy than an equal amount of water (plus the fact that you probably had less cheese than water to begin with, unless you frequently microwave cups full of cheese).

[Thetyim]

Sorry to contradict, but it is the water molecule that resonates with the microwave frequencies.

Don't be sorry, I am always happy to learn something

[NarrLing]

I just did a search on askjeeves and found a details report that will possibly answer all your questions on microwave effects. Lol It confused the heck out of me.

Safety Standards for Exposure to RF Electromagnetic Fields

John M. Osepchuk*, Ronald C. Petersen**

*Full Spectrum Consulting, Concord, Massachusetts, USA

**Lucent Technologies, Inc./Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA

Found below fig2 in the report.

"This result is eminently reasonable to the engineer well acquainted with the absorption cross-section theory that shows absorption decreasing rapidly as the square of the animal dimension. (It also explains the mystifytng-to the layman-observation that isolated small ants are not perturbed in an operating microwave oven.) "

good reading.

NL

[chonabot]

I just did a search on askjeeves and found a details report that will possibly answer all your questions on microwave effects. Lol It confused the heck out of me. 

Safety Standards for Exposure to RF Electromagnetic Fields

John M. Osepchuk*, Ronald C. Petersen**

*Full Spectrum Consulting, Concord, Massachusetts, USA

**Lucent Technologies, Inc./Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA

Found below fig2 in the report.

"This result is eminently reasonable to the engineer well acquainted with the absorption cross-section theory that shows absorption decreasing rapidly as the square of the animal dimension. (It also explains the mystifytng-to the layman-observation that isolated small ants are not perturbed in an operating microwave oven.) "

good reading.   

NL

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blue Whale no good in the Microwave Olympics then Monkey chops ?

[NarrLing]

Yepp, that is clear as mud too.

[Thaiboxer]

I didn't know roaches could live for three weeks with their heads cut off...amazing! I used to say if we had a nuclear war and all life on Earth was wiped out, roaches would still be around (and so would seagulls according to my grandfather). They are tough little buggers...they've endured what other species haven't. They were here before, during and after the dinosaurs...cockroaches have been around for about 350 million years unchanged. No wonder they can live without their heads!

[chico]

fattening the ants (with the food) before you put them into the microwave, would that help heat them up enough?

[lampard10]

fattening the ants (with the food) before you put them into the microwave, would that help heat them up enough?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jesus......................you really do want me to put them on the menu

[Thetyim]

What a great forum this is.

I have learnt a lot of things today.

And hats of to John M. Osepchuk and Ronald C. Petersen who have the patience and front to get paid for watching ants defying death in a microwave.

[Gazza]

fattening the ants (with the food) before you put them into the microwave, would that help heat them up enough?

Jesus......................you really do want me to put them on the menu

I thought ants and ants eggs were part of Isaan's cuisine.

Along with scrambled spiders legs and tadpole tits.

[Ijustwannateach]

If you put a plate of ant infested food out in the sun the ants will abandon ship, I think (OK hope) that is what the OP was trying to do with the micrwave.

I think the nuking time is dependant on fat content and not water content.  Cheese  cooks in 10 seconds,  warming up a cup of coffee takes forever.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry to contradict, but it is the water molecule that resonates with the microwave frequencies. The cheese has lots of water in it too. Try heating a piece of really stale dry bread and another piece that has been moistened at the same time...

You can also heat other materials that have free electrons, like pieces of metal, but that is due mainly to the current induced in the material.

What you are witnessing is the different specific heat of cheese and water, namely that a certain volume of cheese absorbs less energy than an equal amount of water (plus the fact that you probably had less cheese than water to begin with, unless you frequently microwave cups full of cheese).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

^Exactly.

The water molecule vibrates in response to the microwave because it has relatively high dipole moment (in other words, one part of it is relatively electrically negative and the others are positive). The microwave also has a certain size and shape, and for it to affect the ant must hit it and fit it in a certain way- the ants are probably walking on the bottom of the microwave, right? The focus of most of the waves in the machine is probably not its very bottom- and you're talking about what, 300, 600W? The same as the power generated by 3 or 6 100W light bulbs, spread over a box the size of the microwave- focussed at the center- so not that much power per square cm on the edge... Plus, the ants are on an order of size much smaller than the microwaves used in most machines (which are on the order of centimeters long, typically), and this might interfere with absorption in some way... plus aside from the idea of specific heat, another thing which does damage is ionization- and the amount of ionization that a given type of radiation causes varies with the material and the amount of material exposed.... so for all these reasons ants will not be affected the same way as larger animals constructed in a much different way.

"Steven"

[Thetyim]

Seems like this is a popular question worldwide.

I have just done a google and found this.

Note he does say water and fat is best.

Quote.

You have discovered a very important reason for cleaning your microwave

oven. The energy in a microwave oven generaly does not kill the insects

that are attracted by the food matter left behind.

Ants, roaches and other insects can tolerate cold, heat and radiation much

better than life forms, such as people, dogs and mice. However, if you

put an ant in a microwave oven like a kernal of popcorn, the popcorn will

explode and the ant will not. The secret is in the way the energy of a

microwave oven works.

Microwave energy is selective. It heats those things best that have a lot

of water or fat best. The microwaves in your oven are also big. They are

about 2 inches long. Therefore, physics tells us that objects that are

the size (about 1 inch wide) and composition (mostly water and fat) of a

chicken egg heat the best in a standard microwave oven. As objects get

smaller, they tend to lose heat more easily. A single kernal of popcorn

is at the small end for microwave heating, but because it has a very hard

outer coating and is about 10% water inside, the water will heat to very

high pressure before the outside coating will break. Popcorn is then

created. A normal ant weighs much less than a kernal of popcorn. Also,

the ants external coat, its exoskeleton, is very porous and cannot build

up pressure. Because of its size, the ant loses any heat it gains from

microwave energy very easily. Remember that the air in a microwave oven

does not get hot, so an ant being heated by microwave energy can lose that

heat energy to the air surrounding it. Therefore, an ant might heat up to

about 90 degrees Fahrenheit in a microwave oven if the air temperature is

about80 degrees Fahrenheit (I have not verified this), while food is

boiling or burning on a plate. Therefore, because an ant is small and the

air is cool, the ant survives the energy it absorbs by getting rid of it

easily.

Dr. Ed Peterson

Edited January 20, 2005 by Thetyim

[penzman]

Here are some experiments you can try with the microwave

Fill a cup with water, 3/4 full.

Drop a lightbulb in the cup, metal socket at the bottom.

Place the cup in the microwave.

Start the microwave, 10 seconds.

Bulb lights up

Put a bar of soap on am glass plate.

Cook for 3 minutes

Bar of soap expands 5 times it s original size

[andy50]

i beg to differ, regarding the statement -"microwave ovens heat the food from the inside"its a fallacy,if you heat a potato for only a Minuit or so, then remove it and cut it in half ,you would expect find that the inside is hotter than and the outside - but its not --- i thank you

[medicinebox]

How long would ants swimming in soup last? In comparison to just standing there?

[lampard10]

fattening the ants (with the food) before you put them into the microwave, would that help heat them up enough?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jesus......................you really do want me to put them on the menu

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought ants and ants eggs were part of Isaan's cuisine.

Along with scrambled spiders legs and tadpole tits.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you've seen my full menu

[lampard10]

Here are some experiments you can try with the microwave

Fill a cup with water, 3/4 full.

Drop a lightbulb in the cup, metal socket at the bottom.

Place the cup in the microwave.

Start the microwave, 10 seconds.

Bulb lights up

Put a bar of soap on am glass plate.

Cook for 3 minutes

Bar of soap expands 5 times it s original size

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You forgot

'Cut the soap into 5 equal pieces and head for the market'

[jayenram]

Here are some experiments you can try with the microwave

Fill a cup with water, 3/4 full.

Drop a lightbulb in the cup, metal socket at the bottom.

Place the cup in the microwave.

Start the microwave, 10 seconds.

Bulb lights up

Put a bar of soap on am glass plate.

Cook for 3 minutes

Bar of soap expands 5 times it s original size

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've got far too much time on your hands, Betty!

[Thaiboxer]

I think I heard about that lady who put her dog in the microwave to dry it off some years ago. If I were the manufacturer, I would have told her next time to just use the dryer and to close the laundry room door so the banging noise wouldn't be so loud!

[Thaiboxer]

Could tell her to put it on FAST SPIN... that way you don't get the 'banging' sound.

That's true...you could always use the spin cycle after putting the dog in the washing machine and squeeze the water right out of its coat. Saves electricity!

Believe it or not, in Japan they actually have special washing machines designed to wash pets. It's amazing what they come up with over there. You just put the animal inside the machine and it runs much like an automatic car wash. I don't think cats would be too thrilled about it!