What is the effect of increasing the slit width in a double-slit experiment on t
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the slit width in a double-slit experiment on the interference pattern?
Fringe width increases
Fringe width decreases
Fringe visibility increases
Fringe visibility decreases
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the effect of increasing the slit width in a double-slit experiment on the interference pattern?
Step 1: Understand the double-slit experiment. It involves shining light through two narrow slits to create an interference pattern on a screen.
Step 2: Know what slit width means. Slit width is how wide each of the two openings (slits) is.
Step 3: Realize that increasing the slit width means making the openings wider.
Step 4: Understand that wider slits allow more light to pass through, but they also change how the light waves behave.
Step 5: Learn that when the slit width increases, the light waves become less coherent. Coherence means the light waves are in sync with each other.
Step 6: Recognize that decreased coherence leads to less clear interference patterns, which means the bright and dark stripes (fringes) on the screen become less visible.
Step 7: Conclude that increasing the slit width reduces the visibility of the interference pattern.
