Microwave heating of water, ice, and saline solution: molecular dynamics study

In order to study the heating process of water by the microwaves of 2.5-20 GHz frequencies, the authors have performed molecular dynamics simulations by adopting a nonpolarizable water model that has fixed point charges on a rigid-body geometry. All runs are started from the equilibrated states derived from the I(c) ice with given density and temperature. In the presence of microwaves, the molecules of liquid water exhibit rotational motion whose average phase is delayed from the microwave electric field. Microwave energy is transferred to the kinetic and intermolecular energies of water, where one-third of the absorbed microwave energy is stored as the latter energy. The water in ice phase is scarcely heated by microwaves because of the tight hydrogen-bonded network of water molecules. Dilute salt water is significantly more heated than pure water because of the field-induced motion of salt ions, especially that of large-size ions, by the microwave electric field and energy transfer to water molecules by collisions.