In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, wh
Practice Questions
Q1
In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, what happens to the fringe spacing?
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It quadruples
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In a two-slit interference pattern, if the distance to the screen is doubled, what happens to the fringe spacing?
Step 1: Understand what fringe spacing (β) means. It is the distance between two bright or dark spots in an interference pattern.
Step 2: Know that fringe spacing is affected by the distance to the screen (D) where the pattern is observed.
Step 3: Remember the relationship: fringe spacing (β) is directly proportional to the distance to the screen (D). This means if you change D, β changes in the same way.
Step 4: If the distance to the screen (D) is doubled, it means you multiply D by 2.
Step 5: Since β is directly proportional to D, if D is doubled, then β also doubles.
Step 6: Conclude that when the distance to the screen is doubled, the fringe spacing also doubles.