Calculating Angular Width of Central Maximum in Wave Diffraction

[Physicsisfun2005]

Waves with wavelength 2m pass through a hole in a barrier 10m wide. Compute the angular width of the central maximum.

I'm not sure what I am finding here. Is it the angel between the central maximum and the 1st nodal line?...If so am I treating this like a 2 point source problem?

Any help would be great!

 

[Chi Meson]

This is a "single gap" problem, but the formula is (sometimes) identical to the 2-slit problem. With a single gap, the angular separation from central maximum to the first-order minimum is given with the formula sin theta = (n lambda) / d .

Here d is the width of the gap and n is the "order" (one in this case).

With 2-slit interference, d is the separation of the slits, and theta gives you the angular position of the first order maximum.

 

[Physicsisfun2005]

ahh thanks...easier than I thought.