In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, what happens to the fringe spacing?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, what happens to the fringe spacing?
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It quadruples
Fringe spacing (β) is directly proportional to the distance to the screen (D). If D is doubled, the fringe spacing also doubles.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, what happens to the fringe spacing?
Solution: Fringe spacing (β) is directly proportional to the distance to the screen (D). If D is doubled, the fringe spacing also doubles.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what fringe spacing (β) means. It is the distance between two bright or dark spots in an interference pattern.
Step 2: Know that fringe spacing is affected by the distance to the screen (D) where the pattern is observed.
Step 3: Remember the relationship: fringe spacing (β) is directly proportional to the distance to the screen (D). This means if you change D, β changes in the same way.
Step 4: If the distance to the screen (D) is doubled, it means you multiply D by 2.
Step 5: Since β is directly proportional to D, if D is doubled, then β also doubles.
Step 6: Conclude that when the distance to the screen is doubled, the fringe spacing also doubles.
