Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Diffraction and Sound

Summary of important results:

Single slit diffraction:

destructive interference when ; m = ±1, ±2, ±3… but not zero

Diffraction from a circular aperture (Airy disk surrounded by Airy rings):

destructive interference when

Diffraction from many slits (a diffraction grating):

constructive interference when ; m = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3…

Rayleigh criterion: Two point sources at an angle θ, imaged through an aperture of

diameter D, can be resolved if:

, or using the small angle approximation,

For standing waves on a string of length L, stable waves occur only when there are nodes
at both ends of the string. This requires, for integer values of n:

Sound intensity is measured in decibels β, defined as

where the reference intensity I0 = 10–12 W/m2. This reference intensity is roughly the
softest sound that humans can hear.

If a sound source is moving with respect to the observer, the apparent frequency of the
sound will change due to the Doppler shift. The relationship between the frequency of
the source fs and the frequency heard by the observer is:

General expression (anything could move):

In this expression the velocities vo and vs are positive if the source and observer are
moving towards one another—which means that the frequency should sound higher.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

• Learning objectives: After this lecture, you will be able to…

1. Explain why shadows can have “ripples” around their edges, and why light from a single
slit shows patterns of bright and dark bands.

2. Calculate the spacing of the dark bands (fringes) created by light passing through a single
slit—the phenomenon of diffraction.

3. Describe and calculate the pattern formed when light passes through two single slits, and
explain how the pattern will change depending on the slit width and the separation
between the slits.

4. Describe the pattern created when light passes through a circular aperture (the Airy disk
and Airy rings), and calculate the size of the first dark ring in the pattern.

5. Apply the Rayleigh criterion to determine if two diffraction patterns are “distinguishable”
or not. Explain how this criterion depends on various physical parameters such as the
wavelength of light, the spacing between objects, the distance to the screen, and the size
of the circular aperture.

6. Explain how a diffraction grating can separate white light into a spectrum, and calculate
the location of each color (wavelength) in the diffraction pattern.

7. Explain how X-ray diffraction can be used to determine the structure of a crystal.

8. Explain how the resolution of a microscope is related to the numerical aperture (NA), and
calculate the resolution from the numerical aperture or from related parameters.

9. Explain how two identical waves traveling in opposite directions will create standing
waves, and show mathematically how the standing wave equation emerges from the
superposition of the two traveling waves.

10. Describe the standing waves for a string held between two fixed ends, and calculate the
allowed frequencies from the string length and the wave speed (or vice versa).

11. Describe the standing waves in a pipe of air, depending on the boundary conditions (open
or closed ends). Calculate the allowed wavelengths and frequencies.

12. Define the decibel, and convert between sound intensity in decibels and sound intensity
in W/m2.

13. Explain why there is a Doppler shift in the observed frequency of a sound wave when
either the source or the observer is moving (or both).

14. Calculate the Doppler shift for motion of the source, the observer, or both. Use the
Doppler shift to calculate the speed of a source.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Diffraction: Shadows Aren’t Simple

• If we illuminate a razor blade with a laser, what do you
think will be projected on the screen?

• Diffraction will occur whenever a wave encounters an obstacle or slit that is

comparable to its wavelength.

www.falstad.com/ripple

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Dark bands from a single slit

• Let’s consider the simplest possible case: light shining through a single slit. What do we
see?

• We can think of a slit of light as made up of an

infinite number of point sources, all in phase. In
other words, there are lots of “rays” all produced
at the slit.

• It turns out that the first dark band is found when

the rays are arranged as in the figure at right.

• The extra distance traveled by ray a (at the very

top of the slit) is one wavelength longer than the
distance that would be traveled by a ray from the
very bottom of the slit (not shown).

1. Given the figure at right, find an expression for

the angle θ in terms of the wavelength λ and the
slit width D.

2. Ray e is exactly at the middle of the slit. What is the extra distance traveled by ray a
compared with ray e? What is the relative phase between ray a and ray e?

3. Now consider ray b. Can you find another ray that will have precise destructive
interference with ray b?

4. Can you show that every ray will have deconstructive interference with one other ray?

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Activity 1: More dark bands

1. The diagram at right shows the angle for the
next dark band. Can you show that each ray
has destructive interference with one other ray?

2. What if the extra distance traveled by ray a is

not an integer multiple of the wavelength? For instance, what if ray a has destructive
interference with ray d? Will all of the rays get canceled out? Explain.

3. Put it all together to explain why we see the following pattern:

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Diffraction and Interference: Two Slits

• Now let’s go back to a question from last lecture—what do we actually see from a
double-slit interference demonstration?

• The overall pattern is the combination of the diffraction pattern from a single slit (the
broad patterns of bright and dark bands) with the interference pattern from the two slits
(the narrow patterns). A graph of the intensity would look something like this:

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Practice:
Match each slit or set of slits on the left with the correct pattern it would produce on the screen,
shown on the right.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Diffraction from a Circular Aperture

• A very similar phenomenon is observed with a circular aperture. The resulting pattern is
known as an Airy disk surrounded by Airy rings:

• A detailed calculation (involving Bessel functions) shows that the first dark ring is at:

or (approximately)

• Circular apertures are quite common (your eye; microscope lenses; etc), so this
diffraction pattern is extremely important.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Activity 2: Resolution from a circular aperture

• Suppose you have two point sources and you’re imaging them with a lens (microscope or
telescope). Each source will produce its own Airy disk, and the patterns might overlap:

1. We can define a criterion for when two overlapping Airy patterns can be distinguished.
The images below show examples of overlapping patterns. What do you notice about the
overlapping distributions at the point labeled “Rayleigh Criterion”? (Hint: look at
where the peaks and troughs overlap.)

2. Find an expression for sinθ at the moment that the Rayleigh criterion is reached.

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 Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Resolving Power of a Microscope

• Two objects are separated by a distance s. Can we resolve them with a microscope?

• How can we get the best possible resolution?

• We can combine all of the factors under our control in a single

parameter called the numerical aperture, NA. We define:

NA = noil sin α

• How is the numerical aperture related to the Rayleigh resolution s?

• If a specimen is very small, then its apparent size is not related to its actual size. Why?

Numerical aperture and resolution: www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/java/imageformation/airyna/index.html

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Am I getting it?
1. You wish to resolve the cilia on a paramecium.
Would you get better resolution with:

a) Red light

b) Blue light

c) The color does not matter

2. You compare the diffraction patterns produced by

two single slits with identical sources of light. Slit A produces a pattern in which the
bright and dark bands are more spaced out than the bands produced by Slit B. Which of
the following is true?

a) Slit A is wider than slit B

b) Slit A is narrower than slit B

c) We need more information to determine the relative sizes of the slits.

3. You shine a laser through two slits and observe the pattern shown below:

a) In the space below, sketch the pattern you would see if you kept the width of the slits
the same, but made them closer together:

b) In the space below, sketch the pattern you would see if you kept the spacing between
the slits the same, but made each slit narrower:

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Activity 3: Diffraction from a Grating or Crystal

1. If you have many narrow slits, the logic is exactly the reverse of the logic for a single
slit. Find an expression for sin θ when all the rays have constructive interference:

• Since the angles of the maxima depend on wavelength, a diffraction grating will separate
white light into its spectrum.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

• The more slits you add, the narrower and sharper the maxima.

2. X-rays will diffract off of a crystal. What is the difference in path length between rays I
and II in the figure below? What is the condition for constructive interference?

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Standing Waves
• We’ve looked at superposition of waves where
there’s a phase shift. What if we superpose two
waves that have the same wavelength but are
traveling in opposite directions? Let’s take a
look at a string…

The resulting wave is called a standing wave,

and the net displacement of the string is just the
sum of a right and left moving wave.

1. Write the relevant equations for the left and

right traveling waves (with wavenumber k and frequency ω). Assume neither has an
initial phase offset.

Wave traveling to right: Wave traveling to left:

𝑦𝑦𝑅𝑅 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑡𝑡) = 𝑦𝑦𝐿𝐿 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑡𝑡) =

2. Now find the total displacement of the string. To simplify, you’ll need the trig identity:
sin(α ± β) = sin α cos β ± cos α sin β.

𝑦𝑦𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑡𝑡) =

3. Does the resulting function look like what we saw in the simulation? Explain.

4. Consider the standing wave described by 𝑦𝑦𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 (𝑥𝑥, 𝑡𝑡) = 2 sin(𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋) cos(𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋).

The graph to the right shows the wave at t=0. On

1 1
the same axes, sketch the wave at 𝑡𝑡 = 6 s, 𝑡𝑡 = 2 s,
and 𝑡𝑡 = 1 s.

5. Mark the nodes, the points on the wave that never

move.

6. Mark the anti-nodes, the points on the wave that

oscillate with maximum amplitude.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Activity 4: Strings
• We have a standing wave with the formula:

y = 2A sin(kx) cos(ωt)

If the string has total length L, fixed at both

ends, then there must be a node at both
ends (where the string doesn’t move).

1. There must be a node at x = 0, for all

values of t. That is:

y = 0 when x = 0

Will this always be true? Explain.

2. There must also be a node at x = L, for all values of t. That is: y = 0 when x = L

Will this always be true? What can we do to make it true? (Hint: for what values of θ is
it true that sin θ = 0?)

3. Given a fixed length L, if the wave speed on the string is given by v, what are the possible
frequencies (f) that will create a standing wave on the string?

4. Consider a 1m long guitar string that has a fundamental frequency (1st harmonic) of 400
Hz. What is the wave speed and wavelength of the wave when the string is in its 5th
harmonic?

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Standing Waves in a Pipe

• It is also possible to create standing waves in the air inside a
pipe. Here we must think carefully about the boundary
conditions on the wave. What is changing in the medium as a
sound wave propagates?

• At an open end, where the air inside is open to the atmosphere,

the outside air acts as a “reservoir” that maintains a constant
pressure at that point—a pressure node. Thus, if a tube is open
at both ends, the allowed wavelengths are just like those on a
string.

Conversely, at a closed end, where the air can

strike against a hard wall, the wall “pushes back”
to create the maximum possible pressure—a
pressure antinode.

Thus, if a tube is closed at one end, you have a

different set of allowed wavelengths:

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Sound Intensity: Decibels

• You recall from our earlier discussion of wave intensity that the intensity of a wave is
given in power per unit area, and that the intensity of a spherical wave decreases as 1/r2
as you move away from the source:

1. Sound intensity is usually measured in decibels β, defined as:

where I0 is a reference intensity of 10–12 W/m2, about the softest sound a human can hear.
What does this mean about the decibel level for the softest sound you can hear? (Hint: in
this case, you will have I = I0.)

2. The threshold of pain is about 10 W/m2. What is the decibel level? This is about the
level of a jackhammer at close range.

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Doppler Shift
The Doppler effect describes the change in the observed frequency for a moving source or
observer.

Important applications:

- Doppler ultrasound to measure blood flow

(especially in utero)

- Doppler radar for measuring velocity of objects

and for navigation

Case 1: Only Observer is moving (vsource = 0)

When the observer moves towards or away from the sound
source, the apparent frequency (crests/time) will change:

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Case 2: Only Source is moving

When the source moves towards or away from the observer, the distance between the
wavefronts changes.

Case 3: Both Source and Observer are moving

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

Am I getting it?
1. Person A and Person B are both stationary and listening to a sound source that is moving
at speed vsource = 10 m/s as shown below. How do the frequencies they hear compare?

A) fA > fB > fsource

B) fA < fB < fsource

C) fA > fsource > fB

D) fA < fsource < fB

E) fA = fsource = fB

2. Which of the following equations is correct for the pitch that Person A hears?
𝑣𝑣
A) 𝑓𝑓𝐴𝐴 = 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 �𝑣𝑣−10 𝑚𝑚/𝑠𝑠�

𝑣𝑣
B) 𝑓𝑓𝐴𝐴 = 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 �𝑣𝑣+10 𝑚𝑚/𝑠𝑠�

3. Which of the following equations is correct for the pitch that Person B hears?
𝑣𝑣
A) 𝑓𝑓𝐵𝐵 = 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 �𝑣𝑣−10 𝑚𝑚/𝑠𝑠�

𝑣𝑣
B) 𝑓𝑓𝐵𝐵 = 𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑠 �𝑣𝑣+10 𝑚𝑚/𝑠𝑠�

4. A pipe is open at both ends, and a standing sound wave is established in it with a
frequency 3 times the fundamental frequency of the pipe. Fill in the blanks: Including
both ends, the pipe contains ____ and ____ for pressure variations.

A) 2 nodes; 3 antinodes

B) 3 nodes; 2 antinodes

C) 3 nodes; 3 antinodes

D) 3 nodes; 4 antinodes

E) 4 nodes; 3 antinodes

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

5. Your friend is holding a 440 Hz tuning fork while running. You are stationary and hear a
pitch that is currently 420 Hz but getting higher. Fill in the blanks: your friend is
running _________ you and ___________.

A) towards; speeding up

B) towards; slowing down

C) away from; speeding up

D) away from; slowing down

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Physics S1b: Lecture 9 July 25, 2022

One-Minute Paper
(Answer on Canvas by the end of the day.)

• What topic left you most confused after today's class?

• What questions came up for you during today's class? Is there anything in particular
you'd like to see emphasized in section?

• Do you have any suggestions or feedback about any part of the course?

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