Why does it take so much less time...

[Discordian 6,013]

To cook something in a microwave than in an oven? I just put a Marie Callender's TV dinner in the microwave and it only takes 5-6 minutes while putting it in the oven takes 38-45 minutes.

 

I know that the quality of the food is a bit different depending on where it's cooked but that's not the question. The question is why it takes so much longer in the oven which is technically more powerful than the microwave?

[I_wesley125 393]

Heat convection is slower than cooking something from the inside out.

[MVC NVMXD JVRXD 2,406]

From Wikipedia,

A microwave oven (often referred to colloquially simply as a "microwave") is a kitchen appliance that heats food bydielectric heating accomplished with radiation used to heat polarized molecules in food. Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently, because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer 1 inch (25 mm) to 1.5 inches (38 mm) of a dense (high water content) food item; food is more evenly heated throughout (except in thick, dense objects) than generally occurs in other cooking techniques.

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

Because Microwaves are actually mini-Tardis's but the government doesn't want you to know about their time distortion technology!

/sarcasm

 

I'm not expert on the subject, but I think its the fact that an oven uses traditional heating where a Microwave doesn't use "heat", but rather microwave ovens radiate harmless microwaves into your food to do... something sciency I guess... to heat the object from the inside out rather than outside in!

[Aureity 3,055]

Basically what everyone else has said. Radiational cooking is much faster than conventional heat.

Safer, not so much. Try not to put plastic stuff into a microwave.

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

Microwave radiation heats water molecules, and because food is made up at least partially of water molecules, it will cook rather quickly. In ovens, the fire needs to take the time to heat the air in the oven, which then transfers to the food (and/or the oven tray), which takes significantly longer.