Why does glass disappear when placed inside oil?

Arabia Weather - When we place a piece of glass inside the oil, we notice that it appears as if it has partially disappeared, or has become blurred. This phenomenon is known as “the disappearance of glass in oil” and is the result of an interaction between light and the materials it passes through.

Experiment with hiding a bottle in an oil container

Tools:

• 3 cups
• 3 glass tubes
• Glass test tube
• water
• Vegetable oil

Step by step instructions

Fill the first cup with water

Fill the second cup half with water and the other half with vegetable oil

Fill the third cup with vegetable oil only

Then, place a glass tube in each cup

Now you can see that the glass tube disappears into the vegetable oil

What is the result of the experiment?

The index of refraction is a property that determines the speed of propagation of light in a specific medium. Each medium, whether air, water, oil, or glass, has a distinct refractive index that depends on the properties of the medium and the light itself.

We can see transparent things; Because it affects light in a certain way, making it visible to onlookers, and the greater the difference in refractive indexes between different media, the greater the blurring of vision as the glass tube disappears in the oil; Because the refractive index of glass and oil are very similar (1.47 and 1.52 respectively), in contrast, the refractive index of water (1.33) is much lower than that of glass, so the glass tube becomes visible in water.

Because glass and vegetable oil have the same refractive index, light passes through them without being refracted, and therefore the glass disappears inside the oil. pic.twitter.com/EWVVTkC76o

—Dr. Mohamed Qasem Dr. Muhammad Qasim (@mqasem) January 14, 2023

Factors that affect the phenomenon of glass disappearing in oil

Refractive index
Every material has a different index of refraction, which determines how light is refracted when it passes from one medium to another. When we put the glass in oil, the light passes through them without being refracted; Because glass and vegetable oil have the same refractive index, the glass disappears inside the oil. This causes blurred vision and makes the glass appear to have partially disappeared.

The disappearance of glass in oil is the result of the interaction of light with materials and differences in refractive index and light scattering. This phenomenon is used in many optical and scientific experiments and applications to study the behavior of light in a changing medium.

Also know:

Is it possible to predict when a rainbow will occur?

What is the reality of the ship whose image was spread while hovering in the air?

Sources:

melscience.com

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