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Diffraction Revision Notes
Diffraction Revision Notes
Diffraction Revision Notes
What is Diffraction?
Diffraction is the spreading out of waves when they pass an obstruction
o This obstruction is typically a narrow slit (an aperture)
The extent of diffraction depends on the width of the gap compared with the
wavelength of the waves
o Diffraction is the most prominent when the width of the slit is approximately
equal to the wavelength
Fig 1 : Diffraction: when a wave passes through a narrow gap, it spreads out
Diffraction is usually represented by a wavefront as shown by the vertical lines in
the diagram above
The only property of a wave that changes when its diffracted is its amplitude
o This is because some energy is dissipated when a wave is diffracted through
a gap
Diffraction can also occur when waves curve around an edge:
Fig 2 When a wave goes past the edge of a barrier, the waves can curve around it
Some diffraction pattern
Diffraction at gap
Diffraction at the edge
Diffraction Experiments
As discussed above, the effects of diffraction are most prominent when the gap size
is approximately the same or smaller than the wavelength of the wave
As the gap size increases, the effect gradually gets less pronounced until, in the case
that the gap is much larger than the wavelength, the waves are no longer spread out
Fig 3 : The size of the gap (compared to the wavelength) affects how much the waves
spread out
:
Fig 5 Ripple tank patterns for low and high frequency vibration
Radio waves has greater wavelength hence diffracts and spread more at the top edge of hill and
reach the house (place ) beyond the hill .
Besides microwave has small wavelength hence does not diffracts and spread at the top
edge of hill and cant reach the house (place ) beyond the hill .