Practice Diffraction in Physics

Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.

Quick Recap

The spreading of a wave as it passes through a gap or around the edge of an obstacle.

Waves 'bend around corners'—you can hear someone even if you can't see them.

Example 1

easy
Sound waves (\lambda = 1 \text{ m}) pass through a doorway 0.8 \text{ m} wide. Do the sound waves diffract significantly? Explain why you can hear someone around a corner.

Example 2

medium
Light of wavelength 600 \text{ nm} passes through a single slit of width 0.1 \text{ mm}. At what angle does the first minimum of the diffraction pattern occur?

Example 3

medium
Visible light (\lambda \approx 500 \text{ nm}) and radio waves (\lambda \approx 1 \text{ m}) both encounter a building 10 \text{ m} wide. Which wave diffracts more around the building? Why?

Example 4

hard
A diffraction grating has 500 \text{ lines/mm}. Light of wavelength 650 \text{ nm} passes through it. At what angle does the second-order maximum appear?
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