The Simple Hack To Keep Fast Food Warmer For Longer
Ordering takeout is one of those simple luxuries you might look forward to at the end of a long week. Whether it's your favorite Chinese restaurant, the best Italian in town, or just a run to pick up some chicken nuggets, any takeout or fast-food you buy deserves to be enjoyed while it's still warm.
Microwaves are small, insulated spaces, so they keep the hot food confined to a specific area. This makes it easier for the food to stay warm, since there is only so much cooler air infiltrating the meal. If you'd left food out on the kitchen counter, it would get cooler much quicker because of something called heat transfer.
Heat transfer keeps your food warm in the microwave
The reason food stays warmer in the microwave than on the counter is due to science — more specifically, a process called heat transfer. When two objects are close to each other, their temperatures want to reach equilibrium. Meaning, cold air wants to get into hot food, and the heat from hot food wants to balance out the cold air. On the counter, your food is exposed to much more space than it is in the microwave, so that heat exits the food pretty quickly in an effort to raise the temperature of the atmosphere around it.
Since there is so much less atmosphere in a microwave, and the hot food takes up most of that space, the heat transfer is minimal because the temperature between two cartons of food is just about the same. Therefore, the heat energy doesn't leave the food as quickly. So, next time you're in a bind after picking up your fast-food order, store it in the microwave to avoid having to reheat it.