Why exactly does diffraction occur?
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?
I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).
And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.
Why does the direction of the waves change?
How is the direction of the waves calculated?
waves diffraction huygens-principle
New contributor
|
show 2 more comments
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?
I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).
And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.
Why does the direction of the waves change?
How is the direction of the waves calculated?
waves diffraction huygens-principle
New contributor
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
1
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
1
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
up vote
10
down vote
favorite
Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?
I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).
And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.
Why does the direction of the waves change?
How is the direction of the waves calculated?
waves diffraction huygens-principle
New contributor
Why do waves that were traveling in a straight direction change direction when passing through an opening?
I thought that the waves (red arrow) when colliding with the wall bounce in the opposite direction (green arrow).
And the waves that pass through the aperture follow its path normally as shown in the image on the right.
The waves that go in a straight direction should follow traveling straight line like a car that goes under a bridge the car is straight on the road.
But this is not so.
Why does the direction of the waves change?
How is the direction of the waves calculated?
waves diffraction huygens-principle
waves diffraction huygens-principle
New contributor
New contributor
edited 35 mins ago
AccidentalFourierTransform
24.9k1466121
24.9k1466121
New contributor
asked 10 hours ago
jony alton
512
512
New contributor
New contributor
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
1
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
1
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
1
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
1
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
1
1
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
1
1
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
up vote
8
down vote
For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.
Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.
From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.
As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.
This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).
This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:
https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction
"Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Tausif commented:
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.
In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.
This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.
add a comment |
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
8
down vote
For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.
Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.
From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.
As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.
Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.
From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.
As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
up vote
8
down vote
For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.
Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.
From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.
As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.
For the full math, you can look up 'diffraction' and 'Huygens Principle' but here I will just post a quick observation that is enough to get a good physical intuition.
Suppose we are considering water waves, and imagine yourself sitting behind the barrier in the 'harbour' (at the lower part of your diagram), watching the waves approaching from 'out at sea' (i.e. the top of your diagram). As the waves reach the 'harbour mouth' (i.e. the small opening in your diagram) the water there is caused to go up and down. So there is this water bobbing up and down in the small opening. Now the surface of the water nearby is going to bob up and down too, isn't it? And the ripples will spread out from there. It doesn't really matter in what direction you consider: the waves will spread out into the 'harbour' because the water at the harbour mouth is moving.
From this way of thinking, you begin to wonder why the waves out at sea are so straight! Ultimately it is because in that case you have oscillating water all along a long line, and so the water all along that long line is caused to move in synchrony.
As I say, this is not a full mathematical answer, just an attempt to give you some intuition about the physics.
answered 9 hours ago
Andrew Steane
2,366524
2,366524
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.
This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.
This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.
This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.
A quick answer would be that they are not changing direction.
Each point in the plane is the source of a single wave. Single waves expand in circles, but as you put many single waves together you sum them and get a plane wave.
The aperture if small enough simply blocks the other waves allowing only one to pass and thus it re-takes circular shape.
This is a simplification of diffraction and huygens' principle but it might help you get an idea.
answered 9 hours ago
JalfredP
823310
823310
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).
This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:
https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction
"Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).
This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:
https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction
"Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).
This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:
https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction
"Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"
Your aperture only allows a very short segment of the incoming plane wave to pass through. As the aperture becomes smaller, the segment looks more and more like a point source. A point source emits spherical waves like you show in your lower right figure. (this is almost intuitively obvious because of symmetry--what other shape of wave would a point emit?).
This is usually explained more formally via diffraction:
https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/cp_diffraction
"Diffraction is the spreading out of waves as they pass through an aperture or around objects. ... In an aperture with width smaller than the wavelength, the wave transmitted through the aperture spreads all the way round and behaves like a point source of waves (they spread out below)"
answered 10 hours ago
user45664
1,0312821
1,0312821
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Tausif commented:
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.
In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.
This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
Tausif commented:
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.
In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.
This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
Tausif commented:
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.
In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.
This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.
Tausif commented:
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram.
In any elastic medium, a pressure effect not only leads to material displacement in this direction, but also to lateral displacement. (In an inelastic medium the material gets simply punched out.) So the awaited longitudinal wave is accompanied always by a transversal wave.
This transversal wave spread out in isotropic media as a spherical wave. The obstacle with the slit limiting the isotropy and instead of a spherical wave on get only have of a spherecal wave.
answered 7 hours ago
HolgerFiedler
3,94031133
3,94031133
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.
In the aperture the wave us no longer plane : it us the product of a rect function, which is unity in the aperture and zero outside it, and a plane wave. You can inspect which wave vectors are present by Fourier transforming this product. The result is a convolution of the transform of the rect, the so called sinc function, and the plane wave. The message is that the result is a sum of plane waves of varying direction. For a point aperture all plane waves are present with equal amplitude and phase, that is, a spherical wave. Alas this requires some elementary math to understand.
answered 9 hours ago
my2cts
3,8942416
3,8942416
add a comment |
add a comment |
jony alton is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
jony alton is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
jony alton is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
jony alton is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Physics Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f444894%2fwhy-exactly-does-diffraction-occur%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
It is called diffraction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
1
I think OP wants to know why the diffraction occurs and why the waves don't just continue like they pointed out in the diagram. Maybe an answer with wavelets and Huygens' Principle. I don't understand the principle well enough to write a good answer though.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago
1
@TausifHossain Yeah that is why I posted a comment :) It seems like the OP doesn't know what it is called, or else they would have said "How does diffraction work" or something like that. Just thought the reference would be helpful just in case.
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How does the Huygens–Fresnel principle apply to diffraction?
– Aaron Stevens
10 hours ago
I see, you're right. Though I found it hard to find a good intuitive explanation of the Huygens Principle online.
– Tausif Hossain
10 hours ago