Of course it is, but if you turn the microwave on, then things start to go belly up if you are the ant

Since microwaves work by passing microwaves through whatever is in them, and the molecules, notably water absorbig some of that energy, I would imagine that if you kept it in there long enough the ant would die. However it is possible that they survive for longer than, say, a slug, perhaps because they have less water content due to their chemical makeup, so aren't affected as quicly. I would bet money though that if you put an ant in a microwave for say, an hour on full power, you would get stewed ant for dinner.

My limited understanding as to why this works, is that a microwave is a "wave," in fact. That in order to be effected, something has to be at least an inch and a half to allow a wave to pass through it. If it is too short, a wave can't pass through it. You will notice that some micro foods actually HAVE metal on their containers. That's why. Because skinny metal isn't long enough to absorb the wave. I learned this from Alton Brown, the chef on Good Eats. He advises against throwing your money into micro popcorn when you can make it yourself with half a cup of un-popped popcorn, a lunch bag with the top rolled three times, and two (ONLY TWO) staples a thrid of the way from each end. It's a fabulous recipe! And because the staples are short and so far apart, no oven fire is scientifically possible!* http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_14234,00.html?rsrc=search *The recipe doesn't explain the science. You would have to see the episode for that.

Is it possible for an ant to survive being in a microwave? The answer to this question is, Yes! How do I know, because I see them survive in my microwave oven. Why is more interesting. To understand why we must first look at How a Microwave ovens works. They do not have an even spread on energy throughout the oven caverty, due to the nature of the standing waves produced by the magnetron - The device that produces the microwaves. The Microwaves are channeled to the Oven caverty by a microwave duct in the top of the oven and the concentration of energy comes from it and showers down in a column much the same as water from the shower head in your shower. The standing microwaves excite the molecules of water within the food causing them to vibrate rapidly and collide which produces heat. By using a revolving table your microwave oven passes your food under this invisible shower of energy, overcoming most of the Hot Spots that would be created by this columnised concentration of energy. As for the ants 1. An an ant is able to sense where the Hot Spots of Energy are and stay where the energy is less concentrated. 2. The ant has a large surface area for its little body mass, so if it does wander into an area where the energy is greater it has time to turn for safety before frying. God made some smart little critters.

I've never microwaved an ant, but I've microwaved a moth. It was in there long enough to take take my cup of coffee hundreds of times its size all the way from pee-warm to hot, and when I opened the microwave, the poor thing fluttered out looking worse for wear but alive. I felt terrible. I suppose it probably mutated into a caffeine addled kaiju-type thing that is currently terrorizing Tokyo. Sorry Tokyo -- my bad.

yeah, but you should really just put it out of its misery