What is the effect of increasing the wavelength of light in a double-slit experiment on the fringe separation?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the wavelength of light in a double-slit experiment on the fringe separation?
Fringe separation decreases
Fringe separation increases
Fringe separation remains the same
Fringe separation becomes zero
Fringe separation is directly proportional to the wavelength; increasing the wavelength increases the fringe separation.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: What is the effect of increasing the wavelength of light in a double-slit experiment on the fringe separation?
Solution: Fringe separation is directly proportional to the wavelength; increasing the wavelength increases the fringe separation.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what a double-slit experiment is. It involves shining light through two narrow slits to create a pattern of light and dark stripes called fringes on a screen.
Step 2: Know that the distance between these fringes is called fringe separation.
Step 3: Learn that the wavelength of light is the distance between two peaks of the light wave.
Step 4: Realize that fringe separation depends on the wavelength of the light used in the experiment.
Step 5: Remember that if you increase the wavelength of the light, the distance between the peaks of the light waves becomes larger.
Step 6: Conclude that a larger wavelength means the fringes will be spread further apart, resulting in increased fringe separation.
