In a thin film of oil on water, which phenomenon is responsible for the colorful

Practice Questions

Q1
In a thin film of oil on water, which phenomenon is responsible for the colorful patterns observed?
  1. Diffraction
  2. Refraction
  3. Interference
  4. Reflection

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

In a thin film of oil on water, which phenomenon is responsible for the colorful patterns observed?
  • Step 1: Understand that light is made up of waves.
  • Step 2: When light hits the thin film of oil, some of it reflects off the top surface of the oil.
  • Step 3: Some light also goes through the oil and reflects off the water surface below.
  • Step 4: The light waves that reflect from the top and bottom surfaces can overlap.
  • Step 5: When these overlapping light waves meet, they can combine in different ways.
  • Step 6: Depending on how they combine, they can create bright colors or dark areas.
  • Step 7: This combination of light waves is called interference, which is what causes the colorful patterns.
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