Whenever you see petroleum oil spilled on a wet surface, it turns rainbow colored. That doesn’t happen with olive oil, or other liquids. Why do petroleum products change color that way?
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Eli5: light hits your brain differently based on its wave speed (thinks surfing). You see different colors based on the speed of the wave.
When that wave hits the oil you see that first wave bounce back and hit your eye. But some of that gets through then bounces back off the water then back and forth, like ripples, making the wave slower and slower.
So you see the waves at various speed and your brain interprets it in different colors.
Eli5: light hits your brain differently based on its wave speed (thinks surfing). You see different colors based on the speed of the wave.
When that wave hits the oil you see that first wave bounce back and hit your eye. But some of that gets through then bounces back off the water then back and forth, like ripples, making the wave slower and slower.
So you see the waves at various speed and your brain interprets it in different colors.
There are two reflective surfaces… The top of the oil and the top of the water. The distance between these surfaces is tiny and it varies with the thickness of the oil. Light will cancel all but one color if the thickness is just right, and a spectrum of colors (a rainbow) is produced where that thickness is changing.
There are two reflective surfaces… The top of the oil and the top of the water. The distance between these surfaces is tiny and it varies with the thickness of the oil. Light will cancel all but one color if the thickness is just right, and a spectrum of colors (a rainbow) is produced where that thickness is changing.
There are two reflective surfaces… The top of the oil and the top of the water. The distance between these surfaces is tiny and it varies with the thickness of the oil. Light will cancel all but one color if the thickness is just right, and a spectrum of colors (a rainbow) is produced where that thickness is changing.
Oil on the water appears rainbow colored due to the phenomenon called “thin-film interference.” When light waves pass through a thin film of oil on top of the water, some of the waves are reflected off the surface of the oil and some pass through the oil and reflect off the surface of the water below.
Oil on the water appears rainbow colored due to the phenomenon called “thin-film interference.” When light waves pass through a thin film of oil on top of the water, some of the waves are reflected off the surface of the oil and some pass through the oil and reflect off the surface of the water below.
Oil on the water appears rainbow colored due to the phenomenon called “thin-film interference.” When light waves pass through a thin film of oil on top of the water, some of the waves are reflected off the surface of the oil and some pass through the oil and reflect off the surface of the water below.
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