This time I used marshmallows, which despite it's yumminess factor it wasn't the easiest of experimental materials as demonstrated by these pictures of the clear up - I'm not going to lie, the messier it is, the more fun it is!
However I have to admit to turning my back on this philosophy when the marshmallows were in the microwave. They don't just melt as I expected, they actually expanded! In places growing to at least three times their size! I had visions of myself spending hours cleaning the sticky remnants of an exploded marshmallow from the inside of my grandparents microwave so fought the curiosity of answering the question 'woa, do marshmallows explode in a microwave?'! I googled, apparently there is a limit to how large they can get and don't explode..
I took out the turning plate and put it in upside down over the rotating parts. In a microwave oven, microwaves are produced and are then reflected by the sides of the microwave oven creating a standing wave. The amplitudes of the two waves will add, creating spaces where the microwaves are twice as strong and places where there are none (As shown in the picture. The centre of the wave is where there is zero amplitude) Therefore when I measured the distance between two of the most melted spaces to be 0.066m, I am finding the distance between two peaks (including the bottom peaks) so to find the wavelegnth I must multiply the distance by two.
I found on wikipedia that the average frequency of a microwave to be 2.4 GHz which is the same as 2.4 x 1,000,000,000 Hz.
Speed of light = Frequency x Wavelegnth
Speed of light = (2.4 x 1,000,000,000) x (0.066 x 2)
Speed of light = 316,800,000 m/s
Which is actually pretty close all things considered! Only 17, 007, 542 m/s away...
The final lesson learnt from this experiment? You can eat too much marshmallow...
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