A film of oil (index of refraction noil = 1.2 ) floats on top of an unknown flui

Question

A film of oil (index of refraction noil = 1.2 ) floats on top of an unknown fluid X (with unknown index of refraction nX). The thickness of the oil film is known to be very small, on the order of 10 nm. A beam of white light illuminates the oil from the top, and you observe that there is very little reflected light, much less reflection than at an interface between air and X. What can you say about the index of refraction of X?

a. nX > 1.2

b. nX = 1.2

c. nX < 1.2

d. There is insufficient information to choose any of the above.

Explanation / Answer

c. nX < 1.2

index of refraction of X is less than the index of refraction of noil.

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