1. Larry Moore ME 340 Fall 2010

2. Find the best place to put your food in the microwave for optimal energy transfer Method Use a “Kill-A-Watt” meter to measure power to the microwave and a thermocouple to measure water temperature increase, then calculate the efficiency Assume only microwave energy transfer, ignore any other forms of heat transfer Assumptions Goal

4.  The emitter is in the back right side of the microwave unit. Objects placed in front of the emitter heat the fastest.  An object placed in front of the emitter will absorb a great deal of the microwave energy and prevent other objects from heating.  For the above reasons, the turntable promotes even heating by effectively spreading the microwave energy across the items being heated.  The microwave is more efficient when there is more surface area to absorb the radiation.

5.  Interestingly, the microwave requires the same power to run no matter how much is in it  When the microwave is empty, most of the microwave energy is absorbed by the glass plate  Special thanks to Kevin Cole for the equipment