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How come we can put aluminum foil in the oven but not microwave

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CaptainCanadia · 41-45, M
An oven is just radiant heat from gas or an element, so it just... heats things up like any other source of heat. So no special properties there.

Microwaves use radio waves. When the radio waves hit food they are conducted around an inch in and heat up the food. Thick metal reflects radio waves, but thin metal isn't strong enough to reflect, and so instead absorb them and heat up, eventually catching on fire. As well, there's an electromagnetic field in a microwave, and thin metal will conduct that and shoot off sparks.