What is "dielectric heating"

n. The heating of an electrically insulating material by a rapidly fluctuating electric field

n. heating of an insulator by a high-frequency electric field

Dielectric heating, also known as electronic heating, RF (radio frequency) heating, and high-frequency heating, is the process in which a high-frequency alternating electric field, or radio wave or microwave electromagnetic radiation heats a dielectric material. At higher frequencies, this heating is caused by molecular dipole rotation within the dielectric.

RF dielectric heating at intermediate frequencies, due to its greater penetration over microwave heating, shows greater promise than microwave systems as a method of very rapidly heating and uniformly preparing certain food items, and also killing parasites and pests in certain harvested crops.