![]() ![]() But, if you moved away from the door and stood with your back to the building, you would see little light, whereas the sound would still be easily audible. And if you stood right in front of the doorway, you would be able to see light from inside the concert hall. The sound quality would be far from perfect, of course, but you would still be able to hear the music well enough. Suppose, now, that you had failed to obtain a ticket, but a friend who worked at the concert venue arranged to let you stand outside an open door and hear the band. Light waves diffract slightly in such a situation, but not enough to make a difference with regard to your enjoyment of the concert: if you looked closely while sitting behind the post, you would be able to observe the diffraction of the light waves glowing slightly, as they widened around the post. But you have little trouble hearing the music, since sound waves simply diffract around the pillar. You cannot see the band, of course, because the light waves from the stage are blocked. Imagine going to a concert hall to hear a band, and to your chagrin, you discover that your seat is directly behind a wide post. ![]() HOW IT WORKS Comparing Sound and Light Diffraction (Because sound waves are much larger than light waves, however, diffraction of sound is a part of daily life that most people take for granted.) Diffraction of light waves, on the other hand, is much more complicated, and has a number of applications in science and technology, including the use of diffraction gratings in the production of holograms. Any type of energy that travels in a wave is capable of diffraction, and the diffraction of sound and light waves produces a number of effects. It should be noted that this example uses a single, monochromatic wavelength, which is not common in real life a more practical example is shown in.Diffraction is the bending of waves around obstacles, or the spreading of waves by passing them through an aperture, or opening. This cancels out any wave and results in no light. Destructive wave interference occurs when waves interfere with each other crest-to-trough (peak-to-valley) and are exactly out of phase with each other. Without diffraction and interference, the light would simply make two lines on the screen.Ĭonstructive and Destructive Wave InterferenceĬonstructive wave interference occurs when waves interfere with each other crest-to-crest (peak-to-peak) or trough-to-trough (valley-to-valley) and the waves are exactly in phase with each other. Young’s Double Slit Experiment: Light is sent through two vertical slits and is diffracted into a pattern of vertical lines spread out horizontally. The pattern that resulted can be seen in. In his experiment, he sent light through two closely spaced vertical slits and observed the resulting pattern on the wall behind them. People did not accept the theory that light was a wave until 1801, when English physicist Thomas Young performed his double-slit experiment. Newton felt that color, interference, and diffraction effects needed a better explanation. But some people disagreed with him, most notably Isaac Newton. ![]() As we discussed in the atom about the Huygens principle, Christiaan Huygens proved in 1628 that light was a wave. The double-slit experiment, also called Young’s experiment, shows that matter and energy can display both wave and particle characteristics.
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