Interference and Path Difference in Slit Experiments

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Questions and Answers

According to Huygens' principle, what are the wavelets formed by drawing a half-circle around each point on a wave called?

  • Half-circles
  • Circles
  • Curves
  • Wavelets (correct)

What is the term for the bending of a wave around an obstacle?

  • Diffraction (correct)
  • Interference
  • Diffusion
  • Reflection

What happens when waves interfere constructively?

  • The waves disappear completely
  • The waves combine into one wave with higher amplitude (correct)
  • The waves flatten out
  • The waves decrease in amplitude

According to Huygens' Principle, how can you predict a wave's position in the future?

<p>By analyzing its current position (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What did 19th-century physicists discover about light through an experiment with a coin's shadow?

<p>Light is a wave (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What did some scientists in the 17th and 18th centuries begin to think about light?

<p>It might actually be a wave (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which type of interference occurs when waves are an exact number of wavelengths apart, causing crests and troughs to line up?

<p>Constructive interference (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the formula for calculating the path difference in a single slit experiment?

<p>$d \cdot \sin(\theta)$ (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens when the total path difference between the top and bottom of a single slit is equal to 1.5 wavelengths?

<p>Constructive interference (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the text, what happens to the rays passing through the middle third and bottom third of the slit?

<p>They cancel each other out (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens to the rays passing through the top third of the slit?

<p>They create a bright line (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does diffraction do to the light waves?

<p>It makes them curve around the coin's edges (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens when diffracted waves run into each other?

<p>They interfere with each other (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens at the places where the waves interfere destructively?

<p>They create shadows (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What happens at the places where the waves interfere constructively?

<p>They create a bright line (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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