please help me. its for physics test tomorrow.
2007-11-29 18:16:02 · 3 answers · asked by dreamer 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Oil on the water spreads out to a layer the thickness of which is in the range of light wavelengths. The layer of oil then acts like a prism.
2007-11-29 18:19:37 · answer #1 · answered by DT3238 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Its complicated but it is due to interference of the light reflecting from the top and bottom of the oil film. If those two rays of light are out of phase then a crest meets a trough and the light cancels out (destructive interference). If a crest meets a crest you get constructive interference. It depends on the thickness of the oil layer and the angle you look at. If two rays of red light happen to meet crest on crest, the red light is seen stronger at a particular spot. Orange will meet crest on crest at a slightly different spot, yellow etc. so you see a spectrum of colors, but not by refraction as in a prism but by reflection and interference.
2007-11-29 19:14:17 · answer #2 · answered by hello 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's due to 'interference' of the light. See sources.
2007-11-29 22:06:00 · answer #3 · answered by za 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋