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Figure shows a series of red concentric rings on a black background. At the center is a bright red spot.
A steel ball bearing illuminated by a laser does not cast a sharp, circular shadow. Instead, a series of diffraction fringes and a central bright spot are observed. Known as Poisson’s spot , the effect was first predicted by Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) as a consequence of diffraction of light waves. Based on principles of ray optics, Siméon-Denis Poisson (1781–1840) argued against Fresnel’s prediction. (credit: modification of work by Harvard Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations)

Imagine passing a monochromatic light beam through a narrow opening—a slit just a little wider than the wavelength of the light. Instead of a simple shadow of the slit on the screen, you will see that an interference pattern appears, even though there is only one slit.

In the chapter on interference, we saw that you need two sources of waves for interference to occur. How can there be an interference pattern when we have only one slit? In The Nature of Light , we learned that, due to Huygens’s principle, we can imagine a wave front as equivalent to infinitely many point sources of waves. Thus, a wave from a slit can behave not as one wave but as an infinite number of point sources. These waves can interfere with each other, resulting in an interference pattern without the presence of a second slit. This phenomenon is called diffraction .

Another way to view this is to recognize that a slit has a small but finite width. In the preceding chapter, we implicitly regarded slits as objects with positions but no size. The widths of the slits were considered negligible. When the slits have finite widths, each point along the opening can be considered a point source of light—a foundation of Huygens’s principle. Because real-world optical instruments must have finite apertures (otherwise, no light can enter), diffraction plays a major role in the way we interpret the output of these optical instruments. For example, diffraction places limits on our ability to resolve images or objects. This is a problem that we will study later in this chapter.

Questions & Answers

Discuss the differences between taste and flavor, including how other sensory inputs contribute to our  perception of flavor.
John Reply
taste refers to your understanding of the flavor . while flavor one The other hand is refers to sort of just a blend things.
Faith
While taste primarily relies on our taste buds, flavor involves a complex interplay between taste and aroma
Kamara
which drugs can we use for ulcers
Ummi Reply
omeprazole
Kamara
what
Renee
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Renee
is a drug
Kamara
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Kamara
Omeprazole Cimetidine / Tagament For the complicated once ulcer - kit
Patrick
what is the function of lymphatic system
Nency Reply
Not really sure
Eli
to drain extracellular fluid all over the body.
asegid
The lymphatic system plays several crucial roles in the human body, functioning as a key component of the immune system and contributing to the maintenance of fluid balance. Its main functions include: 1. Immune Response: The lymphatic system produces and transports lymphocytes, which are a type of
asegid
to transport fluids fats proteins and lymphocytes to the blood stream as lymph
Adama
what is anatomy
Oyindarmola Reply
Anatomy is the identification and description of the structures of living things
Kamara
what's the difference between anatomy and physiology
Oyerinde Reply
Anatomy is the study of the structure of the body, while physiology is the study of the function of the body. Anatomy looks at the body's organs and systems, while physiology looks at how those organs and systems work together to keep the body functioning.
AI-Robot
what is enzymes all about?
Mohammed Reply
Enzymes are proteins that help speed up chemical reactions in our bodies. Enzymes are essential for digestion, liver function and much more. Too much or too little of a certain enzyme can cause health problems
Kamara
yes
Prince
how does the stomach protect itself from the damaging effects of HCl
Wulku Reply
little girl okay how does the stomach protect itself from the damaging effect of HCL
Wulku
it is because of the enzyme that the stomach produce that help the stomach from the damaging effect of HCL
Kamara
function of digestive system
Ali Reply
function of digestive
Ali
the diagram of the lungs
Adaeze Reply
what is the normal body temperature
Diya Reply
37 degrees selcius
Xolo
37°c
Stephanie
please why 37 degree selcius normal temperature
Mark
36.5
Simon
37°c
Iyogho
the normal temperature is 37°c or 98.6 °Fahrenheit is important for maintaining the homeostasis in the body the body regular this temperature through the process called thermoregulation which involves brain skin muscle and other organ working together to maintain stable internal temperature
Stephanie
37A c
Wulku
what is anaemia
Diya Reply
anaemia is the decrease in RBC count hemoglobin count and PVC count
Eniola
what is the pH of the vagina
Diya Reply
how does Lysin attack pathogens
Diya
acid
Mary
I information on anatomy position and digestive system and there enzyme
Elisha Reply
anatomy of the female external genitalia
Muhammad Reply
Organ Systems Of The Human Body (Continued) Organ Systems Of The Human Body (Continued)
Theophilus Reply
what's lochia albra
Kizito
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Source:  OpenStax, University physics volume 3. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12067/1.4
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