Creative Commons License Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Reading Quiz Number 1

Question 1: Diffraction affects (choose all appropriate)

  1. light waves
  2. sound waves
  3. water waves
  4. earthquake waves 
   Answer:  A, B, C, D     Diffraction affects all kinds of waves

Question 2: Red light (lambda = 600 nm) shines through a single slit onto a distant wall. It creates a set of bright-dark-bright bands. Then it is turned off, and blue light (lambda = 400 nm) shines through the same slit. Are the dark bands now closer or farther apart? 

   Answer: closer together.   The angle by which waves are diffracted
           increases with wavelength (and decreases with width of 
	   the slit)

Question 3: To a physicist, "resolution" refers to

  1. anger management skills
  2. number of detector elements in a system
  3. angular size of the smallest features visible
  4. ratio of frequency to speed of light 
   Answer: C

Creative Commons License Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.