Measuring Modern Physics

Modern physics has the reputation of being esoteric - it is something to calculate, but can't be measured. This is wrong! While certain aspects of Modern Physics needs specialized equipment (say, a kilometer-long accelerator), plenty of it is accessible in a standard undergraduate lab.

On the first day of Modern, we are going to measure the speed of light.

Today, in a few minutes, I measured Planck's constant (within 5%!) - a fundamental constant in quantum mechanics. (I'm going to buy a few dollars worth of material, and hopefully we'll be able to get it to 1% or better then.)

My job is so awesome.