Practice Problems
Thin Film Interference Soap Bubbles
Topics:
On this worksheet you will be investigating the basic properties of
thin film interference
in a soap bubble.
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omit
Question 1
A thin soap bubble, n = 1.35, is filled with air. Since the medium outside the bubble is also air, at which of the interfaces (air-soap and soap-air) would the light undergo a 180° phase change upon reflection?
soap-air
at neither interface
air-soap
at both interfaces
omit
Question 2
What is the wavelength of red, 724-nm light as it travels through the film?
977 nm
536 nm
724 nm
omit
Question 3
At what minimum non-zero thickness of the film will the intensity of the red light reflected back into the air be a maximum?
268 nm
134 nm
362 nm
181 nm
omit
Question 4
At what minimum non-zero thickness of the film will the intensity of the same red light reflected back into the air be a minimum, or experience destructive interference?
268 nm
181 nm
362 nm
134 nm
omit
Question 5
In general, when red light is removed from white light, the soap bubble would appear to be which color?
magneta
yellow
cyan
grey
omit
Question 6
What is the frequency of the red light as it travels through the soap film?
5.59 x 10
-4
hz
4.14 x 10
14
hz
1.61 x 10
20
hz
3.07 x 10
14
hz
omit
Question 7
If the soap film were instead specified to be 596 nanometers thick, which wavelength in the visible spectrum would be canceled?
1.19 x 10
3
nm
1.61 x 10
3
nm
8.83 x 10
2
nm
4.02 x 10
2
nm
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