Newer microwaves are a little bit better at dealing with metal than older microwaves. Just don’t keep doing it, because after a while, it can cause problems.
I’m an engineer. We try to design things for the dumbest people to prevent what we design from being destroyed. There are microwaves that have metal racks in them. A cheap one will fry tho
The whole ‘metal in the microwave’ forbiddenness isn’t absolute. I actually had a microwave with metal racks built into it. It’s not the metal itself, but the SHAPE of the metal that will cause problems. If there are no sharp edges for the microwave energy to concentrate on, probably nothing will happen. A pot? As you found out, won’t do much. Ball up some tin foil? Get ready for fireworks. Spoon? No problem. Fork? Problems.
The rules for what can and cannot go in a are rather complicated, so it’s just easier for manufacturers to have a blanket "don’t do it at all" statement. Much safer that way.
Pretty cool when you discover stuff like this, huh?
A few things may be responsible. The stainless steel pot is presumably thick, and will probably have a fairly high resistance. It does not want to conduct the electricity that is normally produced. Also, the gap between any point in the pot is going to be very large, probably too large for electricity to arc across. If, for example, you had put crumpled aluminum foil in, there would be many small gaps that would lead to electricity arcing, this creating sparks and a fire hazard.
It probably isn’t a good habit it get into, but the danger was minimal.
July 10th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Posted in Stainless Steel Kitchen Cookware
Can’t say why nothing happened, but here’s a good explanation for not putting metal in a microwave:
http://www.chemistryquestion.com/English/Questions/ChemistryInDailyLife/23c_microwave_metal.html
Newer microwaves are a little bit better at dealing with metal than older microwaves. Just don’t keep doing it, because after a while, it can cause problems.
I’m an engineer. We try to design things for the dumbest people to prevent what we design from being destroyed. There are microwaves that have metal racks in them. A cheap one will fry tho
The whole ‘metal in the microwave’ forbiddenness isn’t absolute. I actually had a microwave with metal racks built into it. It’s not the metal itself, but the SHAPE of the metal that will cause problems. If there are no sharp edges for the microwave energy to concentrate on, probably nothing will happen. A pot? As you found out, won’t do much. Ball up some tin foil? Get ready for fireworks. Spoon? No problem. Fork? Problems.
The rules for what can and cannot go in a are rather complicated, so it’s just easier for manufacturers to have a blanket "don’t do it at all" statement. Much safer that way.
Pretty cool when you discover stuff like this, huh?
A few things may be responsible. The stainless steel pot is presumably thick, and will probably have a fairly high resistance. It does not want to conduct the electricity that is normally produced. Also, the gap between any point in the pot is going to be very large, probably too large for electricity to arc across. If, for example, you had put crumpled aluminum foil in, there would be many small gaps that would lead to electricity arcing, this creating sparks and a fire hazard.
It probably isn’t a good habit it get into, but the danger was minimal.
yOu’ve been lucky , my grandma did they same and the kitchen explOded in less than 2 minutes