University Physics with Modern Physics (14th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321973615
ISBN 13: 978-0-32197-361-0

Chapter 35 - Interference - Problems - Discussion Questions - Page 1180: Q35.15

Answer

See explanation.

Work Step by Step

This is explained on page 1173. Waves must be coherent to interfere. If the film is too thick, then beams reflected off the front and back surfaces aren’t part of the same coherent burst that was emitted by the light source. The dividing line would be the spatial length of the coherent burst of light, which is several micrometers long.
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