Question

Structures on a bird feather act like a diffraction grating having 7000 7000 lines per centimeter. What is the angle of the first-order maximum for 602 nm 602 nm light shone through a feather?

Answer 1

θ = 28.9°

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given;

Wavelength; λ = 602nm = 602 x 10^(-9) m

Lines per centimetre = 7000 /cm = 700000 /m

Thus, the distance between 2 adjacent lines is;

d = 1/700000 = 1.43 x 10^(-6) m

The angle at which diffracted light is formed is given by the formula

mλ = d sinθ

Where;

m is the mth order of the diffraction

λ is the wavelength of the incident light

d is the distance separating the centres of 2 adjacent slits

θ is the angle at which diffraction occurs

From the question, m is 1 because it says first order.

Thus, plugging in the relevant values into mλ = d sinθ, we have;

1 x 602 x 10^(-9) = 1.43 x 10^(-6) sinθ

sinθ = 602 x 10^(-9)/(1.43 x 10^(-6))

sinθ = 0.42098

θ = sin^(-1) 0.42098

θ = 28.9°