meanings of Newton's rings definition of Newton's rings books about Newton's rings references on Newton's rings articles about Newton's rings web search for Newton's rings dreams about Newton's rings
 Newton's rings - Definition 

The phenomenon of Newton's rings is an interference pattern caused by the reflection of light between two surfaces - a spherical surface and an adjacent flat surface. It appears as a series of concentric, alternating light and dark rings centred at the point of contact between the two surfaces. The light rings are caused by constructive interference between the incident and reflected light rays, while the dark rings are caused by destructive interference.

The effect was named after the physicist Isaac Newton, who was the first to analyze it.


External links

Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy  ::  Terms of Use  :: Contact Us  :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Newton's rings".