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The phenomenon is called iridescence. It happens because in a thin film (like a soap bubble, or gasoline on water) there can be constructive interference in light waves as they bounce between the two surfaces of the film. The exact color depends very sensitively on the thickness of the film, which is why the colors seem to swirl around as minor variations in the thickness move through the substance.

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12y ago
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When white light shines on the bubble, the reflected waves interfere with each other producing rainbow fringes.

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11y ago

Light transmitted through the bubbles, results in the colour.

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Interference.

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Q: Explain why colors appear on the surface of a soap bubble?
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When a ray of white light hits an opaque surface with red orange yellow green and violet what colors will the surface appear?

The surface will appear white.


How do the colors of the soap bubble originate?

transmitted light by thin films cause such a display of colors


Which phenomenon produces the colors in soap bubble?

dispersion of light


Explain the principles behind the reason why you see colors on soap bubbles?

This works through interference patterns. The wall of the soap bubble is very thin - on the order of the wavelength of the light. This makes the interference patterns noticeable. The interference is caused between the light that is reflected from the front part of the bubble wall, and from the light reflected from the back part of the bubble wall.


Why colour seen on soap bubble?

Soap bubbles have color because they reflect light in a weird way. The way the reflect color is based on the thickness of the bubble. Some of the light coming to the bubble reflects off of the inner surface of the bubble, and some off of the outer surface. The two waves of light cancel out or add in different ways, so different colors of light are produced. In a really thin bubble, no light is reflected because the two waves almost exactly cancel with each other, but a 100 nanometer bubble makes a light blue.


How to make a rainbow in a bubble?

you cant make a rainbow in a bubble. but you can see one if the bubble is in front or near the sun. you must look at it a certain way in order to see colors!


What colors are green surfaces reflecting?

Green surfaces are absorbing all other color photons, and reflect only green photons, making the surface appear as green.


What are same between bubble gum and a jolly rancher?

come in different colors,sticky,sugary,lot of calories,different colors.


Is there any difference between the colours emerging from a prism and the colours of a soap film seen in sunlight?

No. In soap bubbles the color you see is proportional to the thickness of the soap bubble, and not the angle. This is because in a soap bubble, the light you see is the sum of the light reflecting off of the outer surface and the inner surface, which cancel out and add to get various colors, whereas in a prism, light is simply reflected and dispersed at an angle based on its energy. The way they reflect on the inner surface and outer surface is different at different thicknesses of bubble. Waves that travel from air to water have their peaks become troughs and vice versa. Really thin bubbles do not reflect at all and appear black against a black background. This is because the wave bouncing off of the back side of the bubble cancels out with the one bouncing off of the front. Different thicknesses cancel out some frequencies while leaving others (for example a 200 micrometer bubble cancels out blue and leaves orange because the wavelength of blue light is just right to be canceled). Another interesting thing is that, since waves are periodic (repeat up and down) , a bubble with twice the thickness will cancel out the wave in the same way. So if you graph bubble thickness vs. color of bubble, you will get roygbiv roygbiv ... over and over.


Why do light colors absorb less heat than dark colors?

Colors that appear light appear that way because they absorb less of the incident light, and reflect more of it to you.Colors that appear dark appear that way because they absorb more of the incident light, and reflect less of it to you.


What color does not appear in the color wheel?

Metallic colors do not appear in a color wheel.


What makes soap and bubble?

They can come in all sorts of colors even purple and pink!!