What happens to the diffraction pattern when the distance between the slits in a
Practice Questions
Q1
What happens to the diffraction pattern when the distance between the slits in a double-slit experiment is increased?
Fringe width increases
Fringe width decreases
Fringe pattern disappears
Fringe intensity increases
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What happens to the diffraction pattern when the distance between the slits in a double-slit experiment is increased?
Step 1: Understand what a double-slit experiment is. It involves light passing through two narrow slits and creating a pattern of light and dark bands on a screen.
Step 2: Know that the distance between the two slits is called 'slit separation'.
Step 3: Recognize that the pattern created on the screen consists of bright and dark areas called 'fringes'.
Step 4: Learn that 'fringe width' is the distance between two adjacent bright or dark fringes.
Step 5: Understand the relationship: as the distance between the slits increases, the fringe width decreases.
Step 6: Conclude that increasing the slit separation makes the fringes closer together, resulting in a smaller fringe width.
