- #1
- 164
- 0
Homework Statement
When 2 glass plates form an air wedge with a fine wire at one end, why don't we convert the given wavelength in air of light into the wavelength in glass since we have to convert it when it is entering in water??
Thanks
so there are gaps in the glass that light passes through so we don't need to convert it?Because the fringes are formed in the air gap - the experiment works just as well with two metal mirrors.
If water was surrounding the wedge, would we still keep using the wavelength in air for a problem like that?The experiment is to measure fringes formed in the air between the two slides.
The only reason you use glass slides is to be able to see what's happening - all the interference takes place in the air (the wedge gap) between them.