For a standard microwave oven that runs at 2.45 GHz (meaning the waves vibrate back and forth 2.45 billion times a second), you should find that the distance between neighboring melted spots is about two and a half inches, or six centimeters. Keep in mind, that’s only the distance from a peak to a trough and hence is half a wavelength. To get the full wavelength, we double that distance. Thus the wavelength of the standing-wave pattern in the oven is about five inches, or twelve centimeters. Incidentally, you can use your oven to calculate the speed of light. Multiply the frequency of
...more
