What is oven: Definition and 116 Discussions

An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been used to accomplish a wide variety of tasks requiring controlled heating. Because they are used for a variety of purposes, there are many different types of ovens. These types differ depending on their intended purpose and based upon how they generate heat.
Ovens are often used for cooking, where they can be used to heat food to a desired temperature. Ovens are also used in the manufacturing of ceramics and pottery; these ovens are sometimes referred to as kilns. Metallurgical furnaces are ovens used in the manufacturing of metals, while glass furnaces are ovens used to produce glass.
There are many methods by which different types of ovens produce heat. Some ovens heat materials using the combustion of a fuel, such as wood, coal, or natural gas, while many employ electricity. Microwave ovens heat materials by exposing them to microwave radiation while electric ovens and electric furnaces heat materials using resistive heating. Some ovens use forced convection, the movement of gases inside the heating chamber, to enhance the heating process, or, in some cases, to change the properties of the material being heated, such as in the Bessemer method of steel production.

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  1. J

    Comparing Energy Emissions: Microwave Ovens vs. Cell Phones

    If the EM waves emitted by a cell phone and a microwave oven have similar frequencies, what does it mean that the waves emitted by the oven contain more energy? I believe that a microwave oven generates about 500 watts, whereas a cell phone generates only about 2 watts. What exactly does that...
  2. F

    How does a microwave oven generate and contain radiation for cooking?

    Not the waves, but the cooking device. I am curious how the radiation is generated, and why it stays inside the microwave (the outside doesn't get hot).
  3. P

    Maximizing Oven Efficiency for Faster Cooking

    Homework Statement How can food in an oven be made to cook more quickly? Explain why you think that your answer states the most effective method. Homework Equations none The Attempt at a Solution All I can think is by increasing the temperture at which the oven is set. i.e. Let more...
  4. V

    Cause of Plastic Container Deformation in Microwave Oven

    Greetings, Earlier this afternoon I managed to ruin a perfectly good plastic container in a microwave oven by unwittingly deforming it. I curious as to why it happened. All I did was warm it (and the chilli inside it) for about a minute with the lid firmly secure. I've been told this was a...
  5. D

    Specific Heat Capacity of oven

    Hey. Here is the question i was given: "When you hold your hand in the air in a hot oven, it takes a while before it starts to burn, but if you touch a cake tin in the oven, it burns almost instantly. Why?" It has to do with the lower specific heat capacity of the tin, which apparently...
  6. Pengwuino

    Help! I Burned My Finger on a Pizza Oven Handle

    owwww i burnt my finger on this metal handle that we use to bake pizza! Its white and swollen where the handle made its mark... what should i do! I've had it in water the last 2 hours...
  7. Pengwuino

    How efficient is a microwave oven

    One thing i was wondering is how efficient is a microwave? I kinda feel like its equivalent to using a firehose on a paper sack fire. So does anyone really know how efficient they are when it comes to heating up your food? And i mean like... efficiency... i mean how much energy do you need to...
  8. Math Is Hard

    Water behind the microwave oven

    My chemistry teacher recommends (for safety) putting a glass of water behind a microwave oven. She says this directs the microwaves (gives them somewhere to go) and helps to keep us from absorbing them and any harmful effects. Does it really do any good?
  9. A

    What Happens to Light when Heated - Baking Samosas

    So, I was baking this Indian delicacy I got at the local Indian grocery store commonly known as 'samosas'. I switched the light inside the oven to observe the progress and then suddenly this thought occurred to me. What happens to light when it gets heated up? What does photons do under...
  10. T

    Two Questions about my Microwave Oven

    These are probably the newbest of newb questions, possessing of a level of ignorance that moves right past funny into sad...however, being the curious type that I am, I'm going to tempt the cat's proverbial fate, and ask anyway. 1) My understanding is that microwave ovens work on the...
  11. Les Sleeth

    How Can You Modify a Regular Oven to Bake Perfect Pizza?

    Here's a problem that has the potential for great personal rewards to solve. There is a lot more to cooking than might first meet the eye. Setting creativity aside, it is pure chemistry and, on the cooking side, physics. The world's most delicious food (sorry if my bias is showing) is very...
  12. T

    Microwaves don t pass thru the door of the microwave oven

    microwaves don"t pass thru the door of the microwave oven :confused: How come microwaves don"t pass thru the door of the microwave oven. Those small holes I believe have to do with this right? but how?
  13. R

    Why metal sparks in a microwave oven

    Greetings all, I've recently been wondering why I see sparks of light when I stick certain metal objects into a microwave. I figured that it has something to do with photons supplying energy to the electrons. When the electrons gain the energy they move to higher energy levels, but when they...
  14. M

    How Can You Calculate Heat Transfer and Energy Costs in Various Scenarios?

    I have some homework problems that I've been stuck on. Not sure if someone can point me in the right direction... 1) The temperature in an electric oven is 173 °C. The temperature at the outer surface in the kitchen is 39.8 °C. The oven (surface area = 1.51 m^2) is insulated with material...
  15. J

    A microwave oven produces electromagnetic radiation

    I need help with the following questions. 1.A microwave oven produces electromagnetic radiation at lambda = 12.3cm and produces a power of 764W. Calculate the number of microwave photons produced by the microwave oven each second. 2.Compton used photons of wavelength 71.3 pm. (a)...
  16. dav2008

    What is the Wattage of a Microwave Oven?

    Just a quick question on microwave ovens if anyone knows it... If an oven is said to be 1000 Watts, does that mean it would use 1000 watts of electricity from the socket, or is that the rate at which food inside absorbs energy? If its the first, what would the rate of energy be that the...
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