In a thin film of oil on water, which color is most likely to be seen at normal incidence?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a thin film of oil on water, which color is most likely to be seen at normal incidence?
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
The color seen depends on the thickness of the film and the wavelength of light. Typically, red is seen due to constructive interference for certain thicknesses.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a thin film of oil on water, which color is most likely to be seen at normal incidence?
Solution: The color seen depends on the thickness of the film and the wavelength of light. Typically, red is seen due to constructive interference for certain thicknesses.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand that a thin film of oil on water can create different colors due to light interference.
Step 2: Know that light is made up of different colors, which correspond to different wavelengths.
Step 3: Realize that when light hits the oil film, some light reflects off the top surface and some goes through and reflects off the bottom surface.
Step 4: Understand that the thickness of the oil film affects how these reflected light waves interact with each other.
Step 5: Learn that constructive interference occurs when the waves combine to make a brighter color, and this depends on the thickness of the film.
Step 6: Recognize that for certain thicknesses of the oil film, red light is often the color that shows up most brightly due to constructive interference.
