Okay so this morning really failed on the experiment front... I was actually trying to find the speed of light but all I really found was the time it took to melt butter...
This was going to be really exciting as it is the name sake of this blog, it involved a bit of maths and we already had all the things I would need in the house! Well, kind of...
The experiment could be done with marshmallows or buttered bread (I figured marshmallows would be too messy and as it's still lent I still couldn't eat them after..). You cook them in the microwave (after disabling the rotory plate) for a few seconds and some sections should melt before others. Since the speed of light = the frequency x the wavelength, you measure the distance between the patches, half it to get the wavelength and multiply it by the frequency (should be given in a microwave manual or be on the side) and you get the speed of light! Except our microwave is a fancy modern one which doesn't rotate but manages to heat (I'm not entirely sure how...) food from the centre so I tried it anyway and ended up with a centralised soggy sandwich...
I forgot how disappointing a failed experiment is! Especially as I had to convince my parents that this wasn't a waste of bread - I'm sure Brians parents sacrificed their bread more willingly in the name of Science! I might try this again after Easter in my Grandparents microwave, with marshmallows!
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