$laser diffraction experiment viva questions$ $laser diffraction experiment viva questions$ $laser diffraction experiment viva questions$

Light, as it turns out, is also a wave (it is a disturbance in the electromagnetic field). For example, if you throw two rocks into a pond, their ripples would interfere with each other in many places - in some points they would interfere constructively and in others they would interfere destructively. Alternatively, if the two waves meet at a point in space while one is pointing 'upwards', while the other is pointing 'downwards' (one is positive and the other is negative), they completely cancel each other out! This is called destructive interference.Īn interference pattern is what you get when you look at more than one point in space. This is called constructive interference. If both waves happen to meet at a point in space while both oscillations are at their maximum, the wave we would see when we look at it would be a single wave, with twice the magnitude of each one separately. There are two interesting cases to talk about. Many waves are even simpler than that - the magnitude of the combined oscillation is simply the sum of both waves. When these two wave collide with, they add up to form a single disturbance. Now, imagine two identical waves travelling through space. It's a nice video that should teach you the basics of waves. I added a video from Veritasium's channel that talks about waves. For our purposes, we should consider a simple case where these waves are periodic in time. In the case of sound waves, for example, this 'field' is the air-pressure around us - sound waves are simply disturbances to the air pressure that travel through space. We all know what waves are from our everyday lives, but what are they, really? and it's beautiful! One of my favorite wave phenomena are related to wave interference, which lead to interference patterns. Once you study what waves are, you begin to see them everywhere. In my opinion, it helps you develop intuition and see the world differently. This makes the study of waves an extremely important part of the education of physicists. Whether it's the waves on the surface of a pond or a vibrating string which are usually described by Newtons laws, light, which is an electromagnetic wave, gravity waves described by Einsteins theory, or miniature particles described by wave mechanics (aka Quantum Mechanics) - they all share many similar properties. There are many universalities to these theories, but my favorite is that they can all describe waves. You start with the basics - mechanics (Newton and his buddies from the 18th century), and gradually move towards the 19th century where you learn about electro-magnetism (Maxwell and such) and eventually you get to Quantum Mechanics and Einsteins relativity. So interference patterns look cool, but so are many other things!! why should we study them?Īs a physicist you get to study how things work. If you find physics interesting I suggest you read through (at least the introduction part!) before you skip to the pictures and videos and how-to's! * This instructable can seem a bit technical, so feel free to ask me stuff! I will also teach you how to use your laser to measure tiny objects, like the width of your hair!! It's super easy! Long story short: You will learn how to observe interference patterns at home (using the cheapest laser point you got).

$laser diffraction experiment viva questions$

Laser diffraction experiment viva questions