lucio_

ok, and this jiggling of the atoms has nothing to do with the temperature? is it a constant, and different in each different atom?

thanks everyone for a very interesting read. still I haven't grasped everything though, and maybe because a new subject unknown to me came up, what do you mean by: "natural vibrational frequency of water" ?

TITLE EDIT: why microwaves heat food and visible light doesn't? ok, here's my first question. in the (recent) past I've read a book of introductory chemistry, and one of introductory astronomy, but I have many practicaly questions left, and here is the first: so, the shorter the wavelength the more the power the photons carry, right? so if microwaves are longer than, say, visible light, why when I put my meal in the microwave oven it gets hot and it doesnt get how while leaving in the kitchen or elsewhere with the visible light? maybe because they push on the oven many many beams? so then why don't use visible light wavelength or infrared or some other shorter wavelength? thaaaank you!

hello everyone, my name is lucio, i'm from Italy and can't stand being ignorant. I'm sooo glad i found a forum where, hopefully, i can get to dissipate (can I say "dissipate"?) and discuss all the doubts I get while reading books and reading on the Internet.