Before I get into how induction works, you should know I’m just an average mom who loves to cook. However, I am naturally inquisitive and when I first purchased my own induction cooktop I was so amazed at the results I just had to know how it all worked. What you will find below is some straight the point easy to understand information that will explain how induction works.
What I will mention first is that if you think that induction cooktops are just another way of cooking with electric, you sort of have it half right. Induction does use electric, but only so it can make use of the technology within.
The Technicalities
What goes on inside a cooktop is really of no interest to a lot of people who like to cook, but it’s worth knowing something about the technicalities behind it all so you can better understand why this way of cooking is safe, energy efficient and best of all fast.
Under each burner on the cook top is a coil of copper which is where all the magic happens.
When you switch on the power an electrical current is passed through the copper. This creates an electromagnetic field which is what heats the cookware you’re using and the food or liquid inside.
If you like, you can check this page to see how it’s all made.
What makes this an amazing invention is the fact that you only get heat from the space your pan is taking up on the cooktop to the food inside. The rest of the unit remains completely cool to the touch. This saves energy, makes for more precise cooking and is far safer than any other form of cooking I’ve ever come across.
If you’re interested, you can take a peek at the experiments demo’s I’ve added to my website. I particularly like the way this demonstrates how induction works when frying an egg, or melting chocolate. What this video also points out very well is the fact that your pan essentially becomes the heating element and not the cooktop.
Considerations
The other point I would like to make is the type of cookware you use is part of the induction technology, so you have to make sure your cookware has the ability to accept a magnetic field so it can heat (more on that here).
If you do put a pan on an induction cooktop that won’t work, the unit simply won’t power-up.
This is just a brief and very simplistic explanation on how induction works.
If you would like a complete overview from the experts take a look at the video below, which explains everything you need to know from technology to size of cookware, and everything in-between.