The Speed of Light
The purpose of our research was to determine which one of three methods would produce the most accurate measurements of the speed of light. The first method consisted of warming up marshmallows in a microwave and measuring distances between melted sections in order to determine the wavelength of light. The wavelength was then multiplied by the given frequency to obtain the speed of light. The second method consisted of measuring displacement of light beams bounced off a rotating mirror to measure the velocity of light. This method was the one that Foucault and later Michelson used to measure the speed of light. The last method used an oscilloscope to measure the difference in time it takes light to travel two different distances. The accepted value of the speed of light, c, is 200,792,458 m/s. Of the three methods the marshmallow method, also the simplest.
Research Done By:
Kiran D'Souza
Sterling Heights
Jon Kroll
Centerline
Rob Wilker
Eisenhower
Warren Consolidated Schools