Benjamin Dumke-von der EheI recently learned about a cool science experiment you can do at home. I tried it out today and it works!
Did you know you can **measure the speed of light** with a couple of marshmallows and a microwave oven?
🧵
Remove the rotating plate from the microwave, and place a (stationary) plate with a bunch of marshmallows in it.
Let the microwave run in 5-second increments until you see the first marshmallows start melting (10-15 seconds total).
You'll see they only start melting in specific spots. That because the microwaves are standing waves, and so they only provide energy where the peaks and valleys are.
(That's why you usually have the rotating plate).
Find the centers of the melting areas and measure the distance between those.
Josh Gister@balpha I liked doing this with a packed microwave safe dish and going until the marshmallows start to caramelize in the half-wavelengths. Easy to see the center for measurement, watch marshmallows super expand, bonus caramel.
@joshgister Sounds delicious but also very messy 😄