Calculation:

The electromagnetic field equations

The electromagnetic field both inside and outside the foodstuff is governed by Maxwells
equations
E: magnetic field intensity
H: electric flux density
D: magnetic flux density
B: vector current density
J: scalar charge density
: propagating medium
In addition, an isotropic medium with an electromagnetic wave of angular frequency
with magnetic permeability, () , permittivity, ' ( ) and conductivity, ( ) , the
following relations
hold

The electromagnetic wave with angular frequency

temporal
spatial

can be expressed as a sinusoidal

component and a
component

where Re denotes real part.

Lamberts law
The changes in the dielectric properties of the foodstuff are slowly varying with respect to the
rapidly changing
electromagnetic field, Maxwells
equations reduce to the
Helmholtz equation.

} over {'}
. The general solution of an oscillating electric field, which varies around
where tan =
an exponentially decaying field for which
where P is the power dissipation. The penetration depth of the field is given by
=1/ . The size of oscillations of the field about the solution depends upon the
magnitude of the internal reflections of the electromagnetic waves within the foodstuff. These

are small provided that the foodstuff is large enough, and for a typical situation a length of
more than 2cm is enough for to be a good approximation.