Final answer:
Colors in soap bubbles are caused by thin-film interference rather than light bouncing off the inside surface, resulting in constructive or destructive interference which enhances certain colors based on the soap film's thickness.
Step-by-step explanation:
The colors seen in soap bubbles are not caused by light bouncing or scattering off the inside surface of the bubble, which means the statement is false. Instead, the colors arise from a phenomenon known as thin-film interference.
This occurs when light waves are partly reflected off the top surface of the soap film and partly from the bottom surface of the film.
The interaction between these two sets of reflected light waves can result in constructive or destructive interference, enhancing certain wavelengths of light, which correspond to different colors, based on the thickness of the film and the angle of the incident light.
Constructive interference leads to the brightest colors when the path length difference is an integral multiple of the wavelength divided by the index of refraction. Destructive interference, on the other hand, occurs when the path length difference is an odd multiple of half-wavelengths.
These interference patterns produce the brilliant colors observed in soap bubbles when exposed to sunlight, similar to phenomena observed in oil slicks and light reflected from compact discs.