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Question of the Day
Mar. 6th, 2004 07:41 amQ: How can ants survive being "nuked" in a microwave?
Microwave ovens have patterns of standing waves, with hot, very high-density areas, and cold, very low-density areas. Ants in the oven seek out the cold areas, and dodge the hot ones. If they run into a high-density area, they will survive, because their high surface area to volume ratio cools them more quickly than the ratio of large objects, and buys them enough time to locate a cold spot.
Microwave ovens have patterns of standing waves, with hot, very high-density areas, and cold, very low-density areas. Ants in the oven seek out the cold areas, and dodge the hot ones. If they run into a high-density area, they will survive, because their high surface area to volume ratio cools them more quickly than the ratio of large objects, and buys them enough time to locate a cold spot.
