Fig. 8: The Refractive Index of Immersion Oil

Photograph of a bottle of immersion oil with the dropper 
    filled with immersion oil. The dropper appears to have disappeared. The air has a refractive index of 1.00 while the oil has 
    a refractive index of 1.52.

Immersion oil used for microscopy has the same refractive index as glass, meaning it behaves optically as if it was glass. This is a bottle of immersion oil with the dropper filled with oil. Both the glass and the oil have a refractive index of 1.52 and the dropper becomes almost invisible.

(Back to Lab Manual)


Creative Commons License
Microbiology Laboratory Manual by Gary E. Kaiser, PhD, Professor of Microbiology
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Last updated: Nov., 2022