How Do Interference Patterns and Diffraction Determine Angles in Physics?

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interference patterns and diffraction determine angles in physics can be calculated using the formula d sinθ = mλ. For a sodium-vapor street lamp illuminating two parallel cracks, the fourth-order minimum angle is found to be 0.178 degrees when applying the given parameters. In a separate scenario involving a diffraction-grating spectroscope, the angle for the second-order spectral line of a star's light at 463.200 nm is also calculated to be 0.178 degrees. Both calculations involve converting units and rearranging the interference equations appropriately. Understanding these principles is crucial for analyzing light behavior in physics.
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Problem 6. A sodium-vapor street lamp produces light that is nearly monochromatic. If the light shines on a wooden door in which there are two straight, parallel cracks, an interfernece pattern will form on a distant wall behind the door. The slits have a separation of 0.3740mm, and the second-order maximum occurs at an angle of 0.18046 degrees from the central maximum.
determine the angle of the fourth-order minimum. Answer in degrees.
Would it be:
d sinθ = (m+1/2)λ
(0.3740*10^-3)sinθ = (m+1/2)λ does m=3?
Problem 15. By attaching a diffraction-grating spectroscope to an astronomical telescope, one can measure the spectral lines from a start and determine the start's chemical composition. Assume the grating has 3224 slits/cm. The wavelengths of the star's light are wavelength_1=463.200nm, wavelength_2=640.500 nm, and wavelength_3=704.700 nm.

Find the angle at which the second-order spectral line for wavelength 1 occurs. Answer in deg
rees.
 
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Problem 6:
What are you going to use for λ?

Problem 15:
This is pretty much just plugging numbers into a equation. What's your question?
 


To solve this problem, we can use the formula d sinθ = mλ, where d is the slit separation, θ is the angle at which the spectral line occurs, m is the order of the line, and λ is the wavelength.

For the first part of the problem, we need to find the angle of the fourth-order minimum. Since we are given the slit separation (d = 0.3740mm) and the second-order maximum angle (θ = 0.18046 degrees), we can rearrange the formula to solve for the fourth-order minimum angle (θ).

d sinθ = (m+1/2)λ
0.3740mm * sinθ = (4+1/2) * λ
sinθ = 2.5 * (λ / 0.3740mm)

Now, we plug in the value of the wavelength (λ = 463.200nm) and convert it to meters (0.463200m) to get:

sinθ = 2.5 * (0.463200m / 0.3740mm)
sinθ = 3.103 * 10^-3

We can use a calculator to find the inverse sine of this value, which gives us θ = 0.178 degrees. Therefore, the angle of the fourth-order minimum is 0.178 degrees.

For the second part of the problem, we need to find the angle at which the second-order spectral line for wavelength 1 occurs. Again, we can use the formula d sinθ = mλ, and rearrange it to solve for θ.

d sinθ = mλ
0.3740mm * sinθ = 2 * (463.200nm / 3224 slits/cm)

We can convert the slit separation to meters (0.3740mm = 3.740 * 10^-4m) and the slits/cm to slits/m (3224 slits/cm = 3.224 * 10^4 slits/m) to get:

3.740 * 10^-4m * sinθ = 2 * (0.463200m / 3.224 * 10^4 slits/m)
sinθ = 3.103 * 10^-3

Again, using a calculator, we find that θ = 0.178 degrees. Therefore, the angle at which
 
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