Measure speed of light at home with chocolate and microwave
Pretty simple actually.
You can use chocolate as in this videos, a plate of mashed potatoes, cheese, marshmallows, or even twizzler sticks will do just fine.
Time for experiment:
About 10 minutes (with a calculator. 15 without one. Could be a lot more if you forgot your fifth grade math).
1. Examine the microwave, the rear surface as well as inside the door, looking for a label stating the frequency. If there is no label containing this value, the majority of microwave ovens operate at 2.45 gigahertz.
2. If the microwave has a rotating turn table remove or disable it.
3. Remove the packaging from the chocolate and place on top of a piece of paper towel on a plate
4. Place the plate with the paper towel and the chocolate in the microwave, so that the chocolate is positioned with the longest sides facing the longest sides of the microwave.
5. Heat the chocolate in the microwave until it barely begins to melt, pausing the oven to check occasionally (the time will vary with the oven, from 20 seconds to 90 seconds)
6. Once the chocolate has begun to melt remove it from the microwave, probe the surface for a pattern of hot melted spots, about the dimensions of a dime.
7. Use toothpicks to mark the hotspots, placing them in the center of the hotspots.
8. Measure the distance between the toothpicks, recording the data.
Source Null Hypothesis and/via Smarter than that and Everything2
Next Friday, how to measure radius of the earth
