How do ants survive a 4 min, full power blast in a microwave?

Question

I didn't do it on purpose, I saw them inside AFTER I took out the food...they were STILL ALIVE!!! Still walking around doing what ants do....why were'nt their insides like mush????

Answer 1

i have know idea. he should have been fry considering a magnifying glass can kill them.

what did you put in the microwave ? if it was liquid,he probably drank a lot of it or he might have been swiming.lol

did you squish him later????

Answer 2

the exoskeleton wouldnt protect them from any heat - as micromaves heat things by agitating the molecules, particularly in moisture/water, not by external heat

Answer 3

sorry, but all i can think of is what your kitchen must look like if you have ants in your microwave!

Answer 4

its probably going to die of ant-cancer

Answer 5

Well it's not just heat, it's microwave energy, so I guess their exoskeleton protects them from this. Not like frying them with a magnifying glass which simply burns them. Microwaves are weird - you can't dry stuff in them, they just come out hot and wet!

Seriously though, ants in your microwave? Eeeeww.

Answer 6

not at all!!1!

Answer 7

Microwave ovens heat foods by subjecting them to high frequency (2.5GHz) radio waves that excite the atoms (creating friction) within the foods. A microwave, produces what is called a standing wave pattern. These "standing waves" concentrate the microwave energy vertically at specific points within the oven, most being towards the center and less concentrated at the interior walls of the oven. The reason a microwave oven has a turntable is to rotate the food so that all parts of it pass through one of these standing waves.

Ants, being quite small, are able to avoid these standing waves within the microwave oven, and therefore not get cooked. If an ant was subjected to microwave energy and restrained, so that it could not get out of the heat so to say, it would die.

Answer 8

well you have to think of the ants anatomy, the insides ARE like mush, they are exoskeleton so the hard outside keeps them protected from that heat.

Answer 9

My aunt didnt :-(

R.I.P Mabel

Answer 10

No idea but I really would not eat that food now

Answer 11

Microwaves are similar to transmitted radio waves traveling at the speed of light and the food being cooked is similar to an antenna that 'receives' the microwaves.  In fact most of the microwaves are received on the surface of the food and the center may not cook evenly.  Place a drop of water where you noticed the ants and cook food for about 4 min.  If the water (which is usually a good receiver) does not evaporate it must be in a dead zone (where reception is poor!).  Also, waves often interact better with objects about the same size as the waves (butterflies may be more susceptible than ants).

Answer 12

They lucked out. A microwave distributes heat unevenly, that's why they put a motor and a glass plate in it to rotate foods. Plus they were probably in a corner, so it's most likely that most of the wave didn't even reach that location (Waves bounce around in a microwave oven).