Chapter 5, Problem 5.3P

A microwave oven operates on the principle that application of a high-frequency field causes electrically polarized molecules in food to oscillate. The net effect is a nearly uniform generation of thermal energy within the food. Consider the process of cooking a slab of beef of thickness 2L in a microwave oven and compare it with cooking in a conventional oven, where each side of the slab is heated by radiation. In each case the meat is to be heated from $0°\text{C}$ to a minimum temperature of $90°\text{C}\text{.}$ Base your comparison on a sketch of the temperature distribution at selected times for each of the cooking processes. In particular. consider the time to at which heating is initiated, a time $t_1$ during the heating process, the time $t_2$ corresponding to the conclusion of heating, and a time $t_3$ well into the subsequent cooling process.