Re: Waves revisited

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>]

> When looking at the interference pattern produced by two (or many) slits,
> what happens to the single slit patterns that are presumeably being
> formed by each slit considered separately? Let's consider monochromatic
> light for simplicity. Any ideas appreciated.

Look more carefully at your experiment; the single slit pattern is there
for you to see! How did you miss it?

That last is a rhetorical question. I suspect you did not do the experiment.
It is no wonder that students believe that physics does not apply to the
real world; teachers tend to use books too much! If you had demonstrated
the phenomenon your student might have had the great rush that comes from
discovering the answer to his question himself.

Leigh