Diffraction Of Light
Diffraction of Light
Introduction: Isaac Newton thought that light must be a particle because particles of light that travels in straight lines until they are stopped by some object that blocks its path. On the other hand, Christiaan Huygens though light must be a wave because it reflects and refracts like sound and water waves do. The purpose of this lab is to decide if the light is a wave or a particle.
Question: Does the light behave as a wave or a particle when its path was blocked by an object?
Method:
Exploration 1: Take a piece of my hair and attach it to slide frame. Place the display 2 meters from the hair and aim the laser at the hair. Observe the laser light.
Exploration 2: Put the pencils in front of the path of laser. Put the screen 2 meters behind the pencils. Observe the patterns of the light.
Exploration 3: Place each meshes on to the slide frame. Place the screen 2 meters from the mesh. Observe the pattern and record the data on the table.
Exploration 4: Clamp the diffraction grating marked 1000 lines/mm on the holder. Place the display screen about 10 cm from the diffraction grating. Aim the laser and observe the pattern. Record the date on the table.
Experimental work:
Exploration 1
1.
2. No, the lines become lighter from the brightest part, not a single straight line.
3. The laser beam spreads out when you put the hair in the path of the laser, because waves undergo interference.
4. It goes perpendicular.
Exploration 2
1.
2. No, there are different fringes, light and dark, rather than one line.
3. The pattern of the light becomes wider when we squeeze the pencils.
4. The pattern of the slit is the same as the pattern of the hair.
Exploration 3
1.
|Mesh |Distance between nearest bright dots in diffraction |Number of wires in one millimeter (n) |Distance between wires (d= 1/n) |
| |pattern (x) | |...
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