The Speed of Light

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License: Creative Commons Attribution The Speed of Light Charismatic Quartet
Views: 1687
06 Jun, 2011

Duration: 02:30
Team: Charismatic Quartet
Region: Greater London

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Categories:
Award Nominees , Demonstration , Experiment , Explanation , Physics , Primary

Measuring the speed of light using a microwave oven. Or: a monumental waste of perfectly good chocolate. Depends on your point of view.

Director's Notes:

How to use chocolate in a microwave to measure the speed of light. Some team members would rather eat it!

Nominee: Best Demonstration, 2011

SciCast Notes:

This is a tremendously well-rehearsed performance, and it’s really well put together. I love the whiteboard use, and the very matter-of-fact explanation. Nicely done. Utterly brilliant expressions at the end, too.

One detail: for this to work, I believe you need to take the turntable out of your microwave oven. I don’t actually have a microwave oven here to check, but that’s how I’ve always heard of this particular experiment, and it makes sense, no?

See this other version of the same experiment for a slightly different take.

— Jonathan

1 comment:

Alec wrote, on 13 June, 2011:

Kids age 10-12 in England are learning what high-schoolers are learning in America. That's pretty sad, America.