College Physics 10th Edition by Raymond Serway,Chris Vuille

Exercise 54

Many cells are transparent and colorless. Structures of great interest in biology and medicine can be practically invisible to ordinary microscopy. An interference microscope reveals a difference in refractive index as a shift in interference fringes to indicate the size and shape of cell structures. The idea is exemplified in the following problem: An air wedge is formed between two glass plates in contact along one edge and slightly separated at the opposite edge. When the plates are illuminated with monochromatic light from above, the reflected light has 85 dark fringes. Calculate the number of dark fringes that appear if water ( n = 1.33) replaces the air between the plates.