On Food and Cooking

temperature of the food as a whole quickly rises. Metal foil and utensils can be put in the microwave oven ...

Advantages and Disadvantages of Microwaves Microwave radiation has one great advantage over infrared: ...

unless they essentially dehydrate them, since the food surface gets no warmer than the interior. Thin, ra ...

As we’ve seen, heat conduction in a solid proceeds either by the movement of energetic electrons, or by ...

the surface of metals, so that the metals can do the job of distributing the heat evenly. Spontaneous Ceramic Coat ...

problem is that these natural coatings are only a few molecules thick, and are easily scratched th ...

compounds, notably the oxides of silicon, aluminum, and magnesium. Glass is a particular variety of ceramic whose com ...

(618–907 CE). This fine ceramic was introduced to Europe with the tea trade in the 17th century, and ...

direct high heat can shatter them. Heat- resistant forms of glass incorporate an oxide of boron that has ...

The Advantages of Poor Conductivity The poor conductivity of ceramic materials is an advantage if the cook ...

never found in nature in the pure state, and a good method for separating the metal from its ore wasn’t de ...

the metal the positive pole (anode) in a solution of sulfuric acid, and so forcing the oxidation of its su ...

scratched, and food sticks to the scratches. Beginning in the 1980s, flexible nonstick sheets and containers made ...

metallic state. For this reason it was the first metal to be used in tool making, about 10,000 years ago ...

damage. No one will be poisoned by the occasional meringue whipped in a copper bowl, but bare copper isn’t ...

some silicon; carbon steel contains less carbon, and is heat-treated to obtain a less brittle, toug ...

steel pans improve their easily corroded surface by building up an artificial protective layer. They “s ...

The important exception to the rule that metals form protective surface coatings is iron, which rusts in ...

surface, and the iron never gets the opportunity to rust. This chemical stability is bought at a price. ...

Tin was probably first used in combination with copper to make the mechanically tougher alloy called bron ...