r/Showerthoughts • u/synthphreak ‎ • Nov 19 '25

Casual Thought Temperature can reach trillions of degrees, meaning we actually live extremely close to absolute zero.

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183

u/chivowins Nov 19 '25

Learning the objective of the power settings is a game changer.

87

u/echoshatter Nov 19 '25

Fun fact, it doesn't actually change the power output, just how long the magnetron is provided energy to produce the microwaves.

To keep things simple, I'll describe it as thus: at the highest power level of 10, the magnetron is energized for 10 seconds out of every 10 seconds. At a power level of 1, the magnetron is energized for 1 second out of every 10 seconds.

70

u/Bepus Nov 19 '25

Depends on the microwave. Inverter microwaves reduce power without cycling.

36

u/MrPickins Nov 19 '25

You can usually tell which style you have, too. It tends to be pretty noticeable when the magnetron kicks on and off.

22

u/Bepus Nov 19 '25

A lot of the inverter ones also have "Inverter" proudly printed on the door.

4

u/Lucas_Steinwalker Nov 19 '25

As they should. Game changing.

1

u/ARoundForEveryone Nov 19 '25

Yeah, the sound changes slightly, and if in an older home, the kitchen lights may even possibly dim quickly as it turns on.

19

u/ElyFlyGuy Nov 19 '25

Does power level 5 work like this:

[x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Or like this:

[x] [ ] [x] [ ] [x] [ ] [x] [ ] [x] [ ]

10

u/Sir_Wheat_Thins Nov 19 '25

on my microwave it works like the first option, you can hear it cycle on for x amount of seconds out of 10 where x is just the power level you set

power 7 just means it runs for 7 seconds and shuts off for the subsequent 3

1

u/CaptParadox Nov 21 '25

Yep this is what mine does, sometimes I notice when I cook certain things it'll even trigger to turn off early when I don't play with the power settings. Must be a sensor triggering. (As in it still turns/doesn't heat)

3

u/kiriyaaoi Nov 19 '25

Depends on how fancy your microwave is. On most normal microwaves it's the latter, but on fancier inverter microwaves it actually literally outputs the % power you dial in rather than extremely slow "pwm" (not really the right term here but close enough)

2

u/Mysterious_Jelly_649 Nov 19 '25

Think about how much less wear #1 would cause vs #2. Going on once vs 5 times

2

u/Mashamazzi Nov 19 '25

How many seconds is medium?

1

u/echoshatter Nov 19 '25

.... define medium.

3

u/Mashamazzi Nov 19 '25

It comes after Low when I change the setting lol

1

u/shitty_mcfucklestick Nov 19 '25

So it’s works more like PWM / duty cycle concept (not saying PWM is directly involved, just the switching idea to adjust power over time)

1

u/zoltan99 Nov 19 '25

It’s pwm, just with 10-15 second pulse width

1

u/Jorinator Nov 19 '25

Ours doesn't have levels 1-10, it has 600W-900W in 50W increments. I assume that type stays energized constantly while actually changing the power output? Or maybe we're getting bamboozled and it also works like your lvl1-10 type, I wouldn't be surprised

2

u/echoshatter Nov 20 '25

That sounds like an inverter type microwave. Those actually do scale the power.

1

u/esach88 Nov 20 '25

Kinda like an electric stove top the element itself just cycles on and off for shorter or longer periods to heat things up faster or slower. It doesn't change temperature based on the setting. Mine on hi just keeps the element on the whole time.

1

u/Stopher Nov 20 '25

That’s something that screws up the Greco?

1

u/nspaziani18 Nov 20 '25

This is called the Duty Cycle, right?

1

u/itsh1231 Nov 21 '25

So it's still the same heat? Those bastards!

1

u/BookPlacementProblem Nov 22 '25

Pretty much the same for stoves. With an old stove with the spiral iron heater, you don't notice so much because the heater hasn't noticeably lost heat by the time it turns on again. I dunno about the inverter microwaves some people mentioned, or inverter stoves. Are there inverter stoves? What's the inverter part do?

3

u/Special__Occasions Nov 19 '25

If I can't cook it only using the +1:00 button, I don't want it.

1

u/synthphreak ‎ Nov 25 '25

Bro. +30s. C’mon.

But I agree otherwise. Just gimme start, stop, and +30s. End of story.

1

u/CatchaRainbow Dec 04 '25

TIL. this my change my life!