system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why doesn't microwave energy escape through the holes in the screen of a microwave oven?

I've heard the classic explanation as to the wavelength being longer than the spatial frequency of the holes, so the radiation can't "see" the holes. But this is hard for me to visualize since the spatial frequency of the holes would be orthoganol to the wavelength of radiation. Can anyone provide an intuitive explanation?

--- Update 4/20/18 13:12E ---

Thank you for the explanation. I think the issue is we all have the classic TEM wave model in our heads, but it doesn't give any insight into the transverse physical dimensions of the fields. I think this leads to confusion with people that assume the vectors in the model correspond to physical boundaries of the light, rather than relative field strengths. I understand what happens when an EM wave contacts a faraday cage, but no one was explaining why it had to touch the cage at all. I just imagine the wave propagating through like in the double slit experiment.
gpt
Correct. But you must remember that the high conductivity of the screen material shorts out the field and makes it go to zero - reflecting it in the process. The microwaves cannot match the zero field condition at both edges of a hole that is much smaller than its wavelength. Fundamental law of wave too: cannot form a spot smaller than the wavelength. Think of water waves, e.g. and try to form a wave let smaller transversal than the wavelength.