|
| In the second place, I can't think of a worse example than "intensity
| in interference and diffraction phenomena" being used as a
| counterexample for which superposition does not work. Surely one incurs
| the peril of making some of the duller students think that
| superposition is inappropriately applied to interference phenomena.
|
[***]
Leigh,
That is certainly a serious danger; but one I think a teacher of
interference phenomena has to confront anyway. One must get across the fact
that intensities don't add but the amplitudes do add; so the source of
confusion is already there; unless you choose to ignore intensity
considerations altogether. So I feel that one might as well confront the
source of confusion directly.
Joel R
PS,
Glad you are back to reading (and posting every now and then) phys-L !