Two coherent sources of light produce interference. If the path difference is 0.
Practice Questions
Q1
Two coherent sources of light produce interference. If the path difference is 0.5λ, what type of interference occurs?
Constructive interference
Destructive interference
No interference
Partial interference
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Two coherent sources of light produce interference. If the path difference is 0.5λ, what type of interference occurs?
Step 1: Understand what coherent sources of light are. They are two light sources that emit waves with a constant phase difference.
Step 2: Know what path difference means. It is the difference in distance traveled by two light waves from their sources to a point of observation.
Step 3: Identify the given path difference. In this case, it is 0.5λ, where λ (lambda) represents the wavelength of the light.
Step 4: Recall the condition for constructive interference. Constructive interference occurs when the path difference is an integer multiple of the wavelength (0, λ, 2λ, etc.).
Step 5: Analyze the given path difference of 0.5λ. Since 0.5 is not an integer, it does not meet the condition for constructive interference.
Step 6: Conclude that a path difference of 0.5λ leads to destructive interference, which occurs when the waves are out of phase by half a wavelength.
