A simple interferometric experiment to demonstrate the anomalous behavior of water

Authors

Adonis Flores ⋅ PH Department of Physics, University of San Carlos
Raymund Sarmiento ⋅ PH Department of Physics, University of San Carlos
Roland Otadoy ⋅ PH Department of Physics, University of San Carlos
Ben Zuidberg ⋅ PH Department of Physics, University of San Carlos

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a method to demonstrate the anomalous behavior in the density of water. The method employs the fiber optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer developed in our laboratoiy. We have tried cooling a distilled water sample inserted in one of the arms of the interferometer from about 10.0°C to 0.0°C. The result shows that while cooling the water, there is a reversal in the direction of the change in the optical path length in this arm at about 4°C. Clear proof for it is the reversal in the direction of the shifting of the fringes in the interference pattern (from inward to outward) which is a manifestation of the anomalous behavior in the density of water (which exhibits a maximum at 4°C).

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Issue

2003: Proceedings of the 21st Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Congress

Article ID

SPP-2003-1F-03

Section

Physics Education

Published

2003-10-22

How to Cite

[1]

A Flores, R Sarmiento, R Otadoy, and B Zuidberg, A simple interferometric experiment to demonstrate the anomalous behavior of water, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 21, SPP-2003-1F-03 (2003). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2003-1F-03.