Answer the following questions:
(a) In a single slit diffraction experiment, the width of the slit is made double the original width. How does this affect the size and intensity of the central diffraction band?
(b) In what way is diffraction from each slit related to the interference pattern in a double-slit experiment?
(c) When a tiny circular obstacle is placed in the path of light from a distant source, a bright spot is seen at the centre of the shadow of the obstacle. Explain why?
(d) Two students are separated by a 7 m partition wall in a room 10 m high. If both light and sound waves can bend around obstacles, how is it that the students are unable to see each other even though they can converse easily.
(e) Ray optics is based on the assumption that light travels in a straight line. Diffraction effects (observed when light propagates through small apertures/slits or around small obstacles) disprove this assumption. Yet the ray optics assumption is so commonly used in understanding location and several other properties of images in optical instruments. What is the justification?
(a) When width (a) of single slit is made double, the half angular width of central maximum which is λ/a, reduces to half. The intensity of central maximum will become 4 times. This is because area of central diffraction band would become 1/4th.
(b) If width of each slit is of the order of λ, then interference pattern in the double slit experiment is modified by the diffraction pattern from each of the two slits.
(c) When a tiny circular obstacle is placed in the path of light from a distant source, a bright spot is seen at the centre of the shadow of the obstacle. This is because light waves are diffracted from the edge of the circular obstacle, which interferes constructively at the centre of the shadow. This constructive interference produces a bright spot.
(d) Bending of waves by obstacles by a large angle is possible when the size of the obstacle is comparable to the wavelength of the waves. On the one hand, the wavelength of the light waves is too small in comparison to the size of the obstacle. Thus, the diffraction angle will be very small. Hence, the students are unable to see each other. On the other hand, the size of the wall is comparable to the wavelength of the sound waves. Thus, the bending of the waves takes place at a large angle. Hence, the students are able to hear each other.
(e) The ray optics assumption is used in understanding location and several other properties of images in optical instruments. This is because typical sizes of aperture involved in ordinary optical instruments are much larger than the wavelength of light. Therefore, diffraction or bending of waves is of no significance.
Popular Questions of Class 12 Physics
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What is the force between two small charged spheres having charges of 2 x 10-7 C and 3 x 10-7 C placed 30 cm apart in air?
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An infinite line charge produces a field of 9 × 104 N/C at a distance of 2 cm. Calculate the linear charge density.
- Q:-
A polythene piece rubbed with wool is found to have a negative charge of 3 × 10−7 C.
(a) Estimate the number of electrons transferred (from which to which?)
(b) Is there a transfer of mass from wool to polythene?
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A 600 pF capacitor is charged by a 200 V supply. It is then disconnected from the supply and is connected to another uncharged 600 pF capacitor. How much electrostatic energy is lost in the process?
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A parallel plate capacitor with air between the plates has a capacitance of 8 pF (1pF = 10-12 F). What will be the capacitance if the distance between the plates is reduced by half, and the space between them is filled with a substance of dielectric constant 6?
- Q:- A circular coil of wire consisting of 100 turns, each of radius 8.0 cm carries a current of 0.40 A. What is the magnitude of the magnetic field B at the centre of the coil?
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A regular hexagon of side 10 cm has a charge 5 µC at each of its vertices. Calculate the potential at the centre of the hexagon.
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A point charge +10 μC is a distance 5 cm directly above the centre of a square of side 10 cm, as shown in Fig. 1.34. What is the magnitude of the electric flux through the square? (Hint: Think of the square as one face of a cube with edge 10 cm.)
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A conducting sphere of radius 10 cm has an unknown charge. If the electric field 20 cm from the centre of the sphere is 1.5 × 103 N/C and points radially inward, what is the net charge on the sphere?
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A point charge of 2.0 μC is at the centre of a cubic Gaussian surface 9.0 cm on edge. What is the net electric flux through the surface?
Recently Viewed Questions of Class 12 Physics
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Obtain the formula for the electric field due to a long thin wire of uniform linear charge density λ without using Gauss’s law. [Hint: Use Coulomb’s law directly and evaluate the necessary integral.]
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A myopic person has been using spectacles of power −1.0 dioptre for distant vision. During old age he also needs to use separate reading glass of power + 2.0 dioptres. Explain what may have happened.
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Suppose the spheres A and B in Exercise 1.12 have identical sizes. A third sphere of the same size but uncharged is brought in contact with the first, then brought in contact with the second, and finally removed from both. What is the new force of repulsion between A and B?
- Q:- (a) Explain the meaning of the statement electric charge of a body is quantised.
(b) Why can one ignore quantisation of electric charge when dealing with macroscopic i.e., large scale charges? - Q:-
A uniform magnetic field of 3000 G is established along the positive z-direction. A rectangular loop of sides 10 cm and 5 cm carries a current of 12 A. What is the torque on the loop in the different cases shown in Figure? What is the force on each case? Which case corresponds to stable equilibrium?
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Determine the current drawn from a 12 V supply with internal resistance 0.5 Ω by the infinite network shown in Fig. 3.32. Each resistor has 1 Ω resistance.
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Answer the following questions regarding earth's magnetism:
(a) A vector needs three quantities for its specification. Name the three independent quantities conventionally used to specify the earth's magnetic field.
(b) The angle of dip at a location in southern India is about 18º.
Would you expect a greater or smaller dip angle in Britain?
(c) If you made a map of magnetic field lines at Melbourne in Australia, would the lines seem to go into the ground or come out of the ground?
(d) In which direction would a compass free to move in the vertical plane point to, if located right on the geomagnetic north or south pole?
(e) The earth's field, it is claimed, roughly approximates the field due to a dipole of magnetic moment 8 x 1022 J T-1 located at its centre. Check the order of magnitude of this number in some way.
(f ) Geologists claim that besides the main magnetic N-S poles, there are several local poles on the earth's surface oriented in different directions. How is such a thing possible at all?
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A uniform magnetic field of 1.5 T exists in a cylindrical region of radius10.0 cm, its direction parallel to the axis along east to west. A wire carrying current of 7.0 A in the north to south direction passes through this region. What is the magnitude and direction of the force on the wire if,
(a) the wire intersects the axis,
(b) the wire is turned from N-S to northeast-northwest direction,
(c) the wire in the N-S direction is lowered from the axis by a distance of 6.0 cm?
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What is the de Broglie wavelength of
(a) a bullet of mass 0.040 kg travelling at the speed of 1.0 km/s,
(b) a ball of mass 0.060 kg moving at a speed of 1.0 m/s, and
(c) a dust particle of mass 1.0 × 10−9 kg drifting with a speed of 2.2 m/s?
- Q:-
Light of frequency 7.21 × 1014 Hz is incident on a metal surface. Electrons with a maximum speed of 6.0 × 105 m/s are ejected from the surface. What is the threshold frequency for photoemission of electrons?
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