Concept explainers
A fun fact: You can use a microwave oven and a bar of chocolate to measure the speed of light. Really! Microwaves are electromagnetic waves, just like visible light. The difference is the wavelength of these waves: For visible light, the wavelengths are in the neighborhood of
If your teacher is unusually adventurous, he or she might bring in a microwave and chocolate bars, in which case you can perform the experiment on your own. Start with around 20 seconds, and make sure you take out the carousel: The chocolate has to stay stationary. (And now you know why a lot of microwaves have a carousel: Food heats more thoroughly at the spots corresponding to half of the wavelength.)
In case no microwave and chocolate are available, I did the experiment at home and took a picture for you, which is reproduced below. It’s a life-size scale, so you can measure the distance between the melted spots with a ruler.
Write the full wavelength: __________ m
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 1 Solutions
PATHWAYS TO MATH LITERACY(LL)W/ ALEKS
- Algebra and Trigonometry (MindTap Course List)AlgebraISBN:9781305071742Author:James Stewart, Lothar Redlin, Saleem WatsonPublisher:Cengage LearningElementary Geometry for College StudentsGeometryISBN:9781285195698Author:Daniel C. Alexander, Geralyn M. KoeberleinPublisher:Cengage LearningElementary Geometry For College Students, 7eGeometryISBN:9781337614085Author:Alexander, Daniel C.; Koeberlein, Geralyn M.Publisher:Cengage,
- Trigonometry (MindTap Course List)TrigonometryISBN:9781305652224Author:Charles P. McKeague, Mark D. TurnerPublisher:Cengage LearningAlgebra & Trigonometry with Analytic GeometryAlgebraISBN:9781133382119Author:SwokowskiPublisher:Cengage