In a double-slit experiment, what is the effect of increasing the distance between the slits on the fringe width?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a double-slit experiment, what is the effect of increasing the distance between the slits on the fringe width?
Fringe width increases
Fringe width decreases
Fringe width remains constant
Fringe width becomes zero
Increasing the distance between the slits increases the fringe width because the angle of diffraction increases.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: In a double-slit experiment, what is the effect of increasing the distance between the slits on the fringe width?
Solution: Increasing the distance between the slits increases the fringe width because the angle of diffraction increases.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what the double-slit experiment is. It involves light passing through two narrow slits and creating a pattern of bright and dark spots on a screen.
Step 2: Know what fringe width is. Fringe width is the distance between two consecutive bright or dark spots in the pattern.
Step 3: Recognize that the distance between the slits affects how the light waves spread out after passing through the slits.
Step 4: Realize that increasing the distance between the slits causes the light waves to spread out more, which leads to a larger angle of diffraction.
Step 5: Understand that a larger angle of diffraction means that the bright and dark spots (fringes) will be further apart from each other.
Step 6: Conclude that increasing the distance between the slits increases the fringe width because the spots become more spaced out.
