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My clear case against the glass back of my work phone creates this light effect, what am I looking at?
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FUCKING_CUNO lemmy.dbzer0.com FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-04-30
Quote

Does this effect have a name? I'm specifically referencing the iridescent shapes to the lower left of the apple

69   Original
thenextguy sh.itjust.works thenextguy@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-07-01
#2 · Quote Reply

When a grid's misaligned with another behinnd, that's a moiré

14
JayleneSlide lemmy.world JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-04
#3 · (edited) Quote Reply

It's called moiré, a form of interference pattern: ~~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern~~

Edit: not moirè, but rather a form of diffraction grating interference because of the minute differences in distance between the two surfaces.

It is also the why DVDs and CDs have rainbow reflections.

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adam_y lemmy.world adam_y@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-27
#4 · Quote Reply

It's not moire...

These are Newtons rings, a different type of optical interference pattern.

It occurs when two transparent sources reflect light in contact.

You get it frequently when trying to scan transparencies using a flatbed scanner too.

Here: Newtons Rings Wikipedia

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FUCKING_CUNO lemmy.dbzer0.com FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-04-30
#5 · Quote Reply

It's not moire... These are Newtons rings, a different type of optical interference pattern. It occurs when two transparent sources reflect light in contact. You get it frequently when trying to scan transparencies using a flatbed scanner too. Here: Newtons Rings Wikipedia

I think youre bang on with the Newtons Rings, thanks!

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Dookieman12 piefed.social Dookieman12@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-07-01
#6 · Quote Reply

I don't know what it's called, but I can tell you it's caused by air being trapped underneath the screen protector. Whoever put it on didn't know to start in the middle and apply pressure outward so you can wipe bubbles toward the edge to remove them.

Or, they were doing a hundred of them and knew they wouldn't have to look at any of them again, so they just threw it on there as fast as they could.

-6
dustycups aussie.zone prex@aussie.zone
Joined: 2023-06-27
#7 · Quote Reply

Not a direct answer to your question but the same effect can be used to measure extremely flat objects. Its a pretty cool rabbit hole.

11
sunnie slrpnk.net sunnie@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2024-08-20
#8 · Quote Reply

It's called moiré, a form of interference pattern: ~~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern~~ Edit: not moirè, but rather a form of diffraction grating interference because of the minute differences in distance between the two surfaces. It is also the why DVDs and CDs have rainbow reflections.

CDs and DVDs have rainbow reflections because the “parallel” (parallel on the scale of the wavelength of light) rows of pits create a diffraction grating.

The rings in the picture are Newton’s Rings, as pointed out in comments. There are a different set of rings for each wavelength of light and since they don’t all line up you get this rainbow effect.

12
tyler programming.dev tyler@programming.dev
Joined: 2023-06-12
#9 · Quote Reply

I don't know what it's called, but I can tell you it's caused by air being trapped underneath the screen protector. Whoever put it on didn't know to start in the middle and apply pressure outward so you can wipe bubbles toward the edge to remove them. Or, they were doing a hundred of them and knew they wouldn't have to look at any of them again, so they just threw it on there as fast as they could.

Read the title….

2
Lauchmelder feddit.org Lauchmelder@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-26
#10 · Quote Reply

thin film interference

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SaveTheTuaHawk lemmy.ca SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-07
#11 · Quote Reply

When a grid's misaligned with another behinnd, that's a moiré

Moire patterns do not cause a prism effect with light.

6
SaveTheTuaHawk lemmy.ca SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-07
#12 · Quote Reply

I don't know what it's called, but I can tell you it's caused by air being trapped underneath the screen protector. Whoever put it on didn't know to start in the middle and apply pressure outward so you can wipe bubbles toward the edge to remove them. Or, they were doing a hundred of them and knew they wouldn't have to look at any of them again, so they just threw it on there as fast as they could.

This happens with any layered glass with a change in refractive index, cause by a layer of plastic or glue. You can see this on car windows at the right angle because they are layered glass and plastic.

9
🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#13 · Quote Reply

Pretty sure it's the prism effect.

-3
Onomatopoeia lemmy.cafe Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
Joined: 2025-01-02
#14 · Quote Reply

When a grid's misaligned with another behinnd, that's a moiré

Incorrect, but I'm giving you the upvote for the lyrical answer

12
Krusty quokk.au Krusty@quokk.au
Joined: 2026-05-03
#15 · Quote Reply

That's moire.

Literally: wavy visual pattern that happens when two different grid or line layers overlap, when a camera films a fine design, or in a special rippled fabric.

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Wioum lemmy.world wioum@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#16 · Quote Reply

A swole apple with a yoyo.

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CmdrShepard49 sh.itjust.works CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2025-06-05
#17 · Quote Reply

I think youre bang on with the Newtons Rings, thanks!

Amusing that this too involves an apple.

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itchick2014 [Ohio] midwest.social itchick2014@midwest.social
Joined: 2023-06-01
#18 · Quote Reply

Moiré?

0
Lucidlethargy sh.itjust.works Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-28
#19 · Quote Reply

I wonder if it's a polarization effect. Look at it with polarized sunglasses on.

2
ndupont lemmy.blahaj.zone ndupont@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-05-05
#20 · Quote Reply

My first guess would be Fresnel diffraction, I guess because of the pattern

1
Swedneck discuss.tchncs.de Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2023-06-10
#21 · Quote Reply

thin film interference

not necessarily that specifically, but definitely some form of interference.
As another person pointed out the specific phenomenon is probably Newton's Rings.

1
Jolteon lemmy.zip Jolteon@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-10-25
#22 · Quote Reply

When a grid's misaligned with another behinnd, that's a moiré

Thanks for referencing the [obligatory XKCD] (https://xkcd.com/1814)

1
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