DIFFRACTION OF WAVES

DIFFRACTION OF WAVES

• Diffraction:• A change in direction or bending

of waves as they pass through an opening or around a barrier in their path.

DIFFRACTION OF WAVES - WAVELENGTH

• Smaller λ = Less Diffraction

• Larger λ = More Diffraction

Wavelength: The smaller the wavelength, the less diffraction will occur. (The sharpness of the bending will be less)

DIFFRACTION OF WAVES – THROUGH AN OPENING

Opening in a Barrier: The smaller the opening, the greater the diffraction. The larger the opening, the less diffraction

DIFFRACTION OF WAVES – TWO OR MORE OPENINGS

• Diffraction creates circular waves which interfere with each other.

Constructive interference where 2 crests meet

INTERFERENCE PATTERN

• Diffraction creates a common pattern seen in experiments known as an interference pattern

• If a detector is placed after waves pass through an opening, it can detect the intensity of the wave at different points

INTERFERENCE PATTERNS

• If there is only 1 opening, the pattern looks something like this

INTERFERENCE PATTERNS

• If there are 2 slits, the pattern changes

• The waves will interfere with each other (constructively and destructively)

• This creates a pattern that looks like this:

DOUBLE SLIT EXPERIMENT

• Long standing belief was that electrons were tiny pieces of matter and did not behave as waves

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

DOUBLE SLIT EXPERIMENT

• What did this tell us?

• The double slit experiment showed that electrons particles AND waves

• This lead to the understanding of Wave-Particle Duality• All elementary particles are actually waves and

particles