Superpositioned: Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips

Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips

Matthew — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 23:41:00 -0800

Over the past week, I’ve been really busy with exams and projects. Trying to save time by finding the speed of light on Google, I stumbled upon an extremely interesting article on measuring the speed of light with a microwave. As any decent cook knows, microwaves do not heat evenly. In fact, this article explains their heating patterns are relative to the speed of light!

Understanding how a microwave heats

As we all know, microwaves heat using electromagnetic waves. These waves are at a frequency perfect for rotating water molecules (f = 2.5 GHz). The rotating water molecules create friction and thereby heat.

Two types of electromagnetic waves

Although there are two types of electromagnetic waves, we typically only consider traveling waves. The amplitude of the wave travels forward in position over times. The following animation demonstrates the amplitude of a wave over space and time.

The waves in a microwave are not traveling. If they were, it would be nearly impossible to distinguish any uneven heating patterns!

Standing waves in a microwave

The waves in a microwave oven are standing waves. These waves are stationary in space with an amplitude changing over time.

With this demonstration, it is obvious that particular sections of the chips are heated more than others. In fact, these locations are located half of the wave’s length apart.

The physics of waves

We now know the frequency of the microwave and can presumably measure the length of the wave, but how are they related to the speed of light? Simple. Electromagnetic waves propagate through free space (like that in a microwave) at the speed of light. Therefore, their length is related directly to the speed of light by λ = c / f where λ is the wavelength, c is the speed of light, and f is the frequency of the microwave. Solving for the speed of light, c = λ * f.

Where do the chocolate chips come in?

Chocolate chips are perfect for measuring the distance between melted spots. The heat does not spread as quickly through them because they are not uniform. This means the melted spots will be smaller and you will have more time to measure before they all start to melt.

It is hard to tell from the photos, but there were distinct melting spots almost exactly 6cm apart. Remember, this is only half of the wavelength, so λ = 12cm. Plugging all the known variables into our equation, we get c = 12x10^-2 * 2.5x10⁹ = 3x10⁸. Not bad! The true speed of light is 2.9987x10⁸.

Notes if you replicate this experiment

The chocolate chips only take 20-30 seconds to melt. The longer you have them in, the bigger the melted spots will be and the less time you will have to measure.
This will not work in a microwave with a spinning carousel. In fact, the microwave spins to counteract these effects. Usually, you can just flip the carousel upside down to stop it from spinning. (Thanks Ryan)
If you plan on putting the chips back in the bag, simply refrigerate them. Freezing causes them to stick to the plate.
You can microwave anything that melts. (Cheese or a chocolate bar) However, chips work particularly well.

Photo gallery

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Jack Mullet

Thu, 03 May 2007 11:14:41 -0700

Wow unbelievable, although there was one problem with one of the measurements. It should be 12*16 dimensional to the protractor and the plate must be standardised steel with the high heat of the microwave which causes the chocolates to melt quicker than anyone could anticipate. But for the most part, i really enjoyed this project.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by YO YO in the fridge

Thu, 03 May 2007 11:11:29 -0700

Too COOL! I hadthe most fantastic time with the studying of the speed of light. This experiment was exciting and more than ever interesting!

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by nancy at lc

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:38:18 -0800

I tried this with the chips at home and it worked great. I used it in my class with a large chocolate bar, and it didn’t work as well (we were off by over 2x the speed of light). So stick with the chips!

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Sidra Iqbal

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 06:21:43 -0800

i thinkk this is a good information about how can we measure the speed

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by mehreen

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 03:44:53 -0700

Hello I am a student at the University of Mauritius. I am doing my final year project on chip present in microwave oven. If ever you have some information on the chipset and the name and properties of different microwave chips sent it to us on mehreenjoom@hotmail.com. Thank in advance

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by sonumol

Wed, 24 May 2006 20:10:21 -0700

i think this is a great experiment. i actuallly used this experiment for my year long physics project. this article was very helpful.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Matthew

Wed, 17 May 2006 20:50:45 -0700

The internet can be a real pain sometime! The About.com link is dead now. I am proud to be keeping this experiment alive, though.

Speed defines the time it takes for the standing waves to rise and fall. It may not be very technical terminology, but it suffices. I don’t think it is misleading.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Mordecai

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:33:38 -0700

*ok, maybe your link wasn’t the problem… I found the _p on google… but it didn’t work either.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Mordecai

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:32:25 -0700

you should be more careful with your links…. you forgot an “_p” right before the “.htm” –made your source a real pain to get to. Also, you say that the microwaves are standing waves… so why are you talking about them having a speed?

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Margarita

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:32:12 -0800

Man you guys are major nerds but like loving the hole chocolate chip thing it totally made me hungry!

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Kay M Purcell

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:49:14 -0800

Modern electronics allows frequency counters to be made by sampling the voltage and counting the zero crossings. Of course the sampling rate would have to be 5 GHz or greater. No calculations involving the speed of light required. Although it is difficult to see how this sort of device could be used in a region of standing waves.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Fred

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:01:44 -0800

This isn’t a speed of light measurement as claimed. It is a wavelength measurement (measurement of the wavelength in air) from which the speed of light can be calculated using the wavelength-frequency relationship. Light wavelength can also be obtained from a coherent laser and measuring the distance between interference fringes.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by codelieb

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:13:48 -0800

This is a fun experiment, but to call it “measuring the speed of light” seems to me somewhat circular reasoning. The experiment is predicated on knowledge of the frequency of radiation in a microwave oven. How do we know that? Suppose we are given a detailed design of a microwave oven. Is it possible to figure out the frequency of the radiation without using the speed of light in your calculation? (Not if you use Maxwell’s equations or anything that follows from them.) On the other hand, suppose you just had some kind of a meter to measure the frequency of the radiation in the oven, so that you don’t have to make a calculation of the frequency to know what it is. Okay, then… how was that meter designed? Did it involve, per chance, use of the speed of light in some calculation? Very probably. So it seems to me that knowledge of the speed of light is, in practice, prerequisite to the knowledge of the frequency of the radiation in the oven.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Saltation

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 05:21:20 -0800

My Trackback ping keeps bouncing so here it is in Comment form. This post referred to your site:

Speed of Delight
Hello, everybody! Professor Sal “Astro” Gation here!, bringing science into YOUR home. Everyone needs science, especially busy househusbands and lazy businesswomen, who can easily run out of science halfway through the afternoon with no chance to nip down to the labs.
…

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by s

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:35:18 -0800

Very cool. Only minor point: speed of light is 2.9979x10^8, not 2.9987x10^8.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by nate

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 04:15:02 -0800

Be careful, carmalized sugar sticks and is very hot. Don’t burn your fingers.

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Doubter

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 01:35:16 -0800

Don’t most microwaves also have a spinning platter that could throw this off?

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Matthew

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:58:22 -0800

Thanks. I actually had to stop my microwave from spinning, but I forgot to leave a note about it.

Also thanks for the mathematical correction. I must have been concentrating more on the HTML superscripts than the actual numbers I was typing!

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Ryan Gardner

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:09:58 -0800

Yeah, I agree with Dave… I smell some fudge in this chocolate calculation.

I had a professor do this with marshmallows once… he let it go for a while so that you could clearly see where the nodes were when he showed it to us as a class. It was harder to get a precise reading on where it was…

I also hope your microwave plate isn’t of the spinning variety…

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by Dave

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 21:55:21 -0800

Nice demonstration!

I’d correct the math, though: 12 cm is NOT 12x10^-3 The result, 3x10^8, is right, but you can’t get there from 12x10-3

Dave

"Measuring the speed of light with Chocolate Chips" by errwa

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 21:22:18 -0800

Wow This is some real geekness! Thanks for posting.