Chapter 33: Q. 59 (page 958)
A student performing a double-slit experiment is using a green laser with a wavelength of . She is confused when the maximum does not appear. She had predicted that this bright fringe would be from the central maximum on a screen behind the slits.
a. Explain what prevented the fifth maximum from being observed.
b. What is the width of her slits?
Short Answer
a. The reason is that the interference maximum fell exactly on the first minimum in the diffraction pattern which caused a missing order.
b. The width of her slits