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I have a microwave that doesn't rotate. My chicken always comes out unevenly heated, but it won't anymore! Tonight, through the power of science and chocolate, I'm going to find the standing waves in my microwave.

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I thought microwave ovens that didn't have rotating plates tended to be of the commercial type.

And that to compensate for the lack of rotation, they used magnetic fields (presumably created by electromagnets) to shift the microwave radiation peaks around the oven itself.

I've always wondered why microwave ovens have static sources (and thus standing waves.) Why not have the emitters reorient themselves as they cook, perhaps following a space-filling curve?

Rotating plate is much cheaper and simpler, more robust...

Many microwave ovens have a mode stirrer, a free-wheeling metal fan at the exit of the waveguide. The ventilation air flow makes it spin, and the angled vanes reflect the microwaves more or less evenly throughout the oven.

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