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A drop of oil on a pond appears bright at its edges, where
Chapter 27, Problem 26Q(choose chapter or problem)
Problem 26Q
A drop of oil on a pond appears bright at its edges, where its thickness is much less than the wavelengths of visible light .What can you say about the index of refraction of the oil compared to that of water?
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
Problem 26Q
A drop of oil on a pond appears bright at its edges, where its thickness is much less than the wavelengths of visible light .What can you say about the index of refraction of the oil compared to that of water?
ANSWER:
Step-by-step solution
Step 1 of 3
The third medium is air in the picture above, the refractive index of the film is bigger than the air. So the ray reflecting from the point A changes its phase
So the path difference of the rays 1 and 2 is
Where the thickness of the film is zero d=0
When d=0 , the path difference is λ/2 so there we have destructive interference