Why do bright fringes move farther apart when a single-slit is made narrower?
Explanation:
When a laboratory experiment produces a single-slit diffraction pattern and the slit is made narrower, the bright fringes will move farther apart. This phenomenon can be explained by the relation between the distance between the fringes given by the formula:
y = (Dλ) / d
Where:
- y is the distance between the bright fringes on the screen.
- D is the distance between the plane of the slit and the screen.
- d is the width of the slit.
- λ is the wavelength of light used.
As the slit is made narrower (decreasing the value of d), the distance between the bright fringes (y) increases. Therefore, the bright fringes move farther apart when the single-slit is made narrower.