Also Newton’s Rings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_rings <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_rings> …which showed that the visible spectrum ranges over a ratio of about a major sixth, as opposed to an octave as Newton thought. (I learned this from Peter Pesic’s wonderful book Music and the Making of Modern Science.)
On Apr 11, 2020, at 10:17 AM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
I once read about an experiment where you can measure the wavelength of light using a drop of oil and a pond. The idea is that the oil will disperse into a uniform film whose thickness (calculable as the volume of the drop divided by the surface area of the pond) is close to the frequency of visible light, and then you can observe chromatic effects. Can anyone provide a reference? I did a Google search but couldn't find the thing I recall reading.
Thanks,
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
Cris Moore moore@santafe.edu "It is bound to be very imperfect. But I think it possible that I have got my statues against the sky.” — Virginia Woolf