# Microwave Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microwave-question/118519>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 11, 2002, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microwave-question/118519 "2002-07-11T23:37:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microwave-question/118519/1 "2002-07-11T23:37:45Z")

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A friend of mine just sent me the following request:

> [@](#):
>
> Hey moe,  
> I have a question for your board, this may have been answered before, and if you know the answer can you tell me?
> 
> I was heating a hotpocket today, and since I have microwave that spins the food around as it heats, I was led to believe that all the parts of the hotpocket would be heated evenly. This is not the case however. Half of the plate was very hot, the other half cool to the touch and half of the hotpocket was piping hot, almost too hot to eat, and the other half was as cold as ice.
> 
> Some would say this occurrence is because my Microwave is broken, but this has happened to me on several occasions, in microwaves ranging from different manufactures to different power ratings.
> 
> Why is this?
> 
> Oh can you help??

I hope the dope can help because I’m stumped. If it wasn’t for the rotating plate, the answer would seem to simply be a matter of the particular pattern of hot and cold spots, but if the plate was rotating…  
WAIT! I just this second had a thought! The only thing I can think of is that one half of the hot pocket in question was at the center of the plate while the other half extended towards the edge, and since the center is generally a colder spot (at least as far as I’ve experienced), etc.

I’ll have to check with him to see if this is a possibility but I’ll post this in case there are other explanations.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microwave-question/118519/2 "2002-07-11T23:42:45Z")

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Hot Pockets also use a reflective cardboard sheild to promote browning, that is another factor to add.

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microwave-question/118519/3 "2002-07-12T01:22:11Z")

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Placing the food off-center solved that problem in my old microwave. My present one heats pretty evenly.  
Peace,  
mangeorge