Q2.
A student carries out an experiment to determine the diameter of a cylindrical wire based
on the theory of Young’s double−slit experiment, using the arrangement shown in Figure
1.
Figure 1
The wire is mounted vertically in front of a single narrow slit which is illuminated by
monochromatic light. The wire produces a shadow between points P and Q on a
glass slide covered with tracing paper. The light diffracts as it passes the wire.
Points A and B act as coherent sources causing interference fringes to be seen
between P and Q.
The student uses a metre ruler to measure the distances L and D shown in Figure
1. Figure 2 shows the pattern of interference fringes between P and Q. The student
takes readings from a vernier scale to indicate the positions of the centres of two of
the fringes.
Figure 2
The student’s measurements are shown in Table 1.
Table 1
L/mm D/mm R1/mm R2/mm
46 395 8.71 11.16
(a) Determine the spacing of the interference fringes w using Figure 1 and the data in
Table 1.
Give your answer to an appropriate number of significant figures.
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