Hey, science guy! I have a question!
Why does metal spark in the microwave? Why does this make the microwave die?
I had always imagined it was because of the photo-electric effect. But apparently the photons in your microwave don't have nearly the energy required to punch electrons out of the orbit of any metal.
So then I thought, well, maybe the microwave energy induces electric eddy currents in the microwave, like in an induction welder. But because of the chaotic reflections going on in a microwave the magnetic fields should be in all different directions and the net magnetic field should be about zero. So that doesn't make sense either.
I looked for scientific explanations of what is actually happening, and the closest I could find is something to the effect that "electric charge will accumulate on corners and sharp edges, and may arc to nearby metal." Ok, but why? What's driving the electric charge to accumulate at corners and sharp edges? Electric charge doesn't like to do that. What's making it do that?
-k