Chapter 31, Problem 13A

Why is gasoline that is spilled on a wet surface so colorful?

To determine

To Find: Why is gasoline that is spilled on a wet surface so colorful.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Interference can be defined as the phenomena of superimposing of two waves to produce a resultant wave of smaller, greater or same amplitude.

When the gasoline spilled on the wet surface, an extremely thin layer of it is formed between the water and the air. When this film is view in the presence of the sunlight, beautiful colors are observed. This occur occurs due to the interference of the light. The reflected light ray from the lower gasoline water surface and the upper gasoline air surface interfere with each other to form various color on the thin film surface.