This is more of a chemistry experiment of the day brought to us by a fellow guest scientist.
DIY: How do you measure the speed of light with a hot dog?
TOOLS:
- Microwave oven
- Sausage (or hot dog... bar chocolate will work too, although it may be more cleanup)
- Ruler
PROCEDURE:
- Disable the turntable / plate feature that most modern microwaves have
- Turn on the microwave
- Wait for the 'bubbles' to appear and stop microwave
- Record the distance from the beginning of the first bubble to the end of the second bubble
- Look on plate for the microwave's frequency (should be near the wattage)
- Calculate the speed of light via the following equation:
Speed of Light = frequency * wavelength
The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s, so see how close you can get (mind your units when you make the calculations). This even makes for a good little experiment for aspiring chemistry students that have final exams coming up. So by now, you should be well on your way to winning that middle school science fair (especially when you also demonstrate the Bohr model using a prism and a telescope), and have a nice bribe for the judges.
Maybe next time for our hands on science we can partner up with Dr. Frank N. Furter to demonstrate time travel by simply jumping to the left and taking a step to the right.