Measuring the speed of light with chocolate chips

Published 13 March 6 5:9 AM | GregLow

I spent some time at the University of Queensland way back in the 70's. One of the things I remember most vividly was the physics pracs. In the pass-level class, they gave you the equipment, told you what you had to show and then told you step-by-step how to do it. In the honours-level class, however, they gave you the equipment, told you what you had to show but *didn't* tell you how to do it.

I've often mentioned to people that the prac I remember best was one where we went into the room and my recollection of what they had given us was:

1. A 12 inch ruler

2. A coil of wire

3. Two metal discs mounted on a frame with a micrometer that could be used to find the distance between them

4. A voltage source

5. Two resistors in a box. The resistors were joined at one end and you could get to the three contact points

6. An oscilliscope

The prac was to "estimate the speed of light". After my lab partner (and super-bright guy) Steve Paul and I got over the shock, I recall us spending about two hours working out what on earth to do.

So, this really caught my eye today:

http://superpositioned.com/articles/2006/03/09/measure-the-speed-of-light-with-chips