Question

A chamber 5.0 cm long with flat, parallel windows at the ends is placed in one arm of a Michelson interferometer (see below). The light used has a wavelength of 500 nm in a vacuum. While all the air is being pumped out of the chamber, 29 fringes pass by a point on the observation screen. What is the refractive index of the air?

Answer 1

1.00029

Step-by-step explanation:

A wave is a disturbance which travels through a medium and transfers energy without displacing the medium itself.

interference is one of the characteristics of a wave motion

The Michelson interferometer produces interference fringes by splitting a beam of monochromatic light so that one beam strikes a fixed mirror and the other a movable mirror. When the reflected beams are reflected, an interference pattern results.

∝Δm=Δud

∝=wavelength 500nm

Δm=number of fringes

d=length 9f the Michelson interferometer chamber

Δu= change in refractive index

500*10^-9*29=0.05*Δu

Δu=0.00029

REFRACTIVE INDEX=1+0.00029

refractive index=

1.00029