Zelaron Gaming Forum - Why don't ants die in the microwave?

I'm ripping this from: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=108430

Quote:

I got to work this morning a little sleepy and shoved my breakfast in
the microwave oven. After five minutes, it was finished cooking, and
upon removing it, I noticed several ants inside the oven, apparently
unphased by the intense microwave radiation. I mentioned this to the
guy across the hall (a more frequent user of the oven), and he said
he'd noticed the same thing, and no longer bothers to remove the ants
before heating his food.

How can the ants survive? Surely they must contain at least some
water, which absorbs microwave energy, and is what makes microwave
cooking effective in most foods. Are they simply too small? They're
certainly tiny compared with the wavelength of the microwaves, which
is almost 5 inches. But it seems to me that shouldn't matter: the
ants ought to experience an oscillating electric field which excites
the water molecules in them, regardless of how small they are.
Perhaps they're only safe because they crawl along the metal bottom
and sides of the oven, and would perish if they ventured up onto the
glass dish, where the amplitude of the fluctuating electric field is
greater?

Thank you for allowing me to research your question.

To understand the reason why an ant survives in a microwave oven is to
understand the way a microwave oven works. A microwave oven emits a
form of energy called ‘standing waves”. That is to say that evenly
spaced, stationary waves of energy bombard the turntable (or plate) in
a vertical fashion so that only specific areas of the turntable are
struck by the waves. Everything inside the microwave is not
necessarily exposed to the waves, especially when the turntable is
motionless. This is why you notice that certain portions of your food
are well heated while others remain cold whenever the turntable is not
moving. The sole purpose of the moving turntable is to ensure that all
areas of the food pass through the stationary ‘standing waves”.
Increasing the intensity of the microwave oven doesn’t turn up the
heat, it activates more ‘standing waves” in a given area of space.

The physical size of an object has little to do with its
susceptibility to microwave generated heat. In fact, chemists use
microwave technology to heat sub-micron particles. The ant’s size only
comes into play because he is able to navigate between the ‘standing
waves’ by sensing the areas where there is high volume heat and low
volume heat. You can visualize the patterns of low heat v. high heat
by filling a paper plate with marshmallows and putting them in the
oven with the turntable turned off. After a few seconds you will see a
pattern of melt or blistering on the marshmallows that are exposed
while the others seem unaffected. Additionally, the intensity of the
waves is greater in some areas than in others. You can see this by
putting a pat of butter on the surface of the turntable and another on
the bottom of an overturned paper cup. The one on the cup will melt
long before the one on the turntable, because the wave intensity is
lower near the bottom and sides of the oven than it is at various
points elevated just above the turntable (where food heaped on a is
plate usually located).

A single ant, or even a few ants, can simply walk around between the
waves of energy, making their way from one safe area to the next, and
avoid getting nuked. 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.

I hope this provides an answer to your question. I look forward to
working with you again in the near future.