The accepted interpretation appears rather to be that one measures the diameter of the oil molecules, assuming the wavelength of light. I googled << measure the wavelength of light using a drop of oil and a pond >> and got a page-ful (?!) of hits --- eg. http://physics.princeton.edu/~steinh/ph115/Lab_2_final_2014.pdf << Ben Franklin, who started all this, publishing an account in 1774, used a pond and olive oil. >> http://d1068036.site.myhosting.com/eChem.f/labP1-thickness.html WFL On 4/11/20, 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