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Experiment-434
MEASUREMENT OF THICKNESS
OF THIN OBJECTS USING THE
AIR-WEDGE TECHNIQUE
Jeethendra Kumar P K, Santhosh K and Sowmya*
KamalJeeth Instrumentation & Service Unit, JRD Tata Nagar, Bengaluru-560092, INDIA
*Student, Dept. of Electronics, Mangalore University, Mangalgangothri-574199
Email: labexperiments@kamaljeeth.net
Abstract
Using air-wedge microscope, polished glass plates, digital camera and
Newtons rings software the distance between two consecutive dark fringes is
measured and the thickness of sample forming the air-wedge is calculated and
compared with the thickness measured using a digital screw gauge.
Introduction
There are several applications in physics where measurement of very thin objects like
paper, mica, hair etc. is required. A screw gauge is generally used for this purpose.
However, the measurement involves fixing the object in between the jaws of the screw
gauge which exerts pressure on the object whose thickness is to be measured. This will,
however, depend on how much pressure one exerts to hold the object between the jaws
of the screw gauge. Therefore, for accurate measurement, one can use the air-wedge
method, which is also suitable for measurement of thickness of a thin film deposited on
a glass plate which may not be possible with a screw gauge. The air-wedge experiment
for measurement of thickness of thin objects is an important experiment in physics labs.
AIR-WEDGE
(air) to denser (glass) medium and again from glass (denser) to air (rarer) and finally
reflected by the second glass plate. The rays get reflected and pass through the air
wedge before finally getting reflected from the upper surface of the bottom glass plate
of the air wedge.
The light rays emerging again through the wedge and glass plates are collected by the
objective of the travelling microscope and can be seen on the field of view of the
microscope. Because of undergoing multiple reflections through the air wedge and
glass plates, there will be phase difference between any two rays. These rays collected
by the objective of the travelling microscope will interfere with one another and form
interference fringes inside the tube of the microscope which can be viewed through the
eye piece. Interference fringes thus produced contain alternate bright and dark fringes.
To get such interference fringes the phase difference between the set of two rays is /2.
Hence the path difference between the set of rays producing interference fringes with
alternative light and dark fringes is /2.
Figure-1: The air wedge formed between two glass plates, illumination of the wedge
by monochromatic light and collection of reflected rays by the objective of the
telescope
Theory
Figure-1 depicts the path of light ray and its capture by the travelling microscope. If A
and B' are the positions of two consecutive dark fringes then the angle of inclination at
the point of contact of two glass plates is related as
Tan =
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since AC=AB'
This is the distance between two consecutive dark fringes, giving
AB' = y
To get bright and dark fringes the path difference between the rays must equal /2.
This indicates the path difference as
BC= /2
Substituting in Equation-1
Tan =
Tan =
PP' is the thickness of the paper (or any thin object) that forms the air wedge. Hence
Tan = =
Thus the thickness, t, of the object forming the air wedge is given by
t=
In this experiment by measuring the separation between two consecutive dark fringes
(equal to the width of the bright fringe) the thickness of the object forming an air wedge
is determined. The experiment provides a method of finding the thickness of very thin
objects and thin films deposited on a glass plate. In case of thin objects like a sheet of
paper , hair, thin metal wire, or a thin mica sheet, one can verify the thickness measured
by employing the air wedge method with that obtained using a digital screw gauge to
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AIR-WEDGE
check the accuracy of the method for determining the thickness of thin films formed
between two glass plates.
Experimental set-up
Figure-2: The air-wedge formed between two glass plates and other samples
The air-wedge glass plates and the thin samples, namely a sheet of paper, thin sheet of
mica, and a copper strand used in this experiment are shown in Figure-2. Using a
digital screw gauge the thickness of the sample is measured and tabulated in Table-1.
The air-wedge experimental set-up used in the experiment is shown in Figure-3. It
consists of a sodium vapour lamp set, air-wedge microscope and 45 turning glass
plate. In addition to these, a digital vernier and digital screw gauge are also used for
cross-checking the measurements made by the air wedge method.
Table-1: Various samples and values of their thickness measured using digital screw
gauge
Sample
Thickness
(mm)
Human hair
0.043
Paper
0.080
Mica
0.104
Copper
0.119
strand
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Experimental procedure
1. The air-wedge microscope is illuminated with sodium vapour lamp set. The
open- and closed ends of the air-wedge glass plates are identified.
l= 6.5cm
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AIR-WEDGE
Click on take a new picture which captures the image. Save and close this
window.
Next open the Newtons rings software. The window as shown in Figure-7 will
appear.
Fill the experimenters name and click on load image appearing at the bottom
menu and select the captured image as explained. The captured image is shown
in Figure-8.
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AIR-WEDGE
Click on Set Origin by pointing the mouse at the center of the image. Two crossed
lines in green color will appear.
Click on the leftmost fringe of the straight line fringe pattern.
appear which is the 0 th fringe.
Now count 10 fringes to the right of the 0th fringe and point the cursor to the 10th
fringe and click on it.
Another white line will appear as shown in Figure-9 and Table on left of the
window will show the distance between 0th and 10th fringe, which gives the width of
10 fringes.
The distance between 10 fringes = 3898.05m
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.
.
= 0.049mm
10. The experiment is repeated by replacing hair with a thin mica sheet, copper
strand and a paper one by one. In each case the fringe width is measured and
thickness is calculated as above. In the case of mica sheet or piece of paper, these
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are cut into a rectangular shape and while placing them, their left side should
coincide with the mark made on the glass.
Table-4: Thickness of various materials measured using the air-wedge method vis a
vis the values measured by the screw gauge
Material
Fringe width
Thickness of material (mm)
(y)m
Air-wedge
Screw gauge
Hair
390.10
0.049
0.043
Mica
153.60
0.140
0.104
Copper
151.37
0.126
0.119
strand
Paper
188.37
0.090
0.080
Reference:
[1]
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