Revealed: How To Calculate The Speed Of Light With Your Microwave

You may think your microwave is good only for making popcorn or heating up last night’s leftovers. But with a big chocolate bar and a little ingenuity, you can use your microwave to calculate the speed of light.

“It’s possible to measure the speed of light in your microwave because microwaves are really a type of light,” Dr. Becky Thompson, head of public outreach at the American Physical Society, told reporters. “They aren’t visible, in fact only a few wavelengths are, but they behave like the light we can see and travel at the same speed.”

Of course, you have to know what to do to make the calculation. That’s where the video above comes in–watch and learn.