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If you want a quick way to test if your olive oil is actually extra virgin olive oil, get a green laser. When it passes through sufficiently pure olive oil the
by cyphar 7y ago
If you want a quick way to test if your olive oil is actually extra virgin olive oil, get a green laser. When it passes through sufficiently pure olive oil the laser will change colour and become red, and then become green again when it passes out of the oil.
Obviously make sure you practice responsible laser safety, even for a cheap low-wattage laser.
- LeifCarrotson 7y agoFascinating! I was skeptical at first how the monochromatic light would "turn red", but on investigation olive oil is flourescent! https://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/fluorescent-oil.cfm https://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/fluo... I was looking around with a 532nm green laser pointer the other day, and found that it was almost totally attenuated when aimed at the red (cheap/fake) nectar in my hummingbird feeder. Further experimentation revealed that orange Gatorade was similarly super-absorbent, while beer was pretty transparent to the green light. Just bought some Tonda Iblea DOP-certified oil and will be interested to try this! It's subjectively delicious, curious if it's objectively flourescent (and if my everyday supermarket olive oil is not).