Thought Provoking Question

[colin(bridgend)]

I was asked this today but unfortunately my intellegence was not capable of providing an answer:

Shampoo, washing up liquid, soap, etc. are available in many different colours and prefumes. Why is it then, that no matter what product you use the lather is always white.

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Colin Bubbles are so thin they only reflect light, I think!!

 

[Chris_374413356]

Since light has wave properties, it will experience interference (the addition of waves).

This interference is like that seen with water waves.

Whether you get constructive or destructive interference depends on the wavelength (colour) of the light.

White light is made up of many colours. These different colours have different wavelengths.

We can see the many colours of light on bubbles.

The separation of white light into many colours on a bubble happens because of interference.

 

[Pat_374304630]

I have no idea Colin

 

[joeby]

i bet sproket will have the site that know's the answer

 

[Sproket]

Well i have found this :

Because soap when sudded out into bubbles is so thin at that point that it is not concentrated enough to have color, its mostly water.

But although it does not have color, it is still not transparent! That is because of light scattering. Note that you can also see the colors of the rainbow in larger bubbles due to interference patterns which form in thin films.

Have a look on here:

How stuff works