Practice portal › Wave Optics › Diffraction

For which one of the following colours would the width of the diffraction fringe be maximum?

Asked in GSEB Board July 2022 · Single slit diffraction

Answer: (1) Red

Step-by-step solution

Idea: for a single slit of width a the minima lie at a sin θ = nλ, so every width in the pattern is proportional to the wavelength.

On a screen at distance D the fringe width is (λ D)/a, so the widest fringes go with the longest wavelength.

Of red, green, yellow and violet, red has the longest wavelength, about 700 nm against about 400 nm for violet.

So red light gives the widest diffraction fringes, about 1.75 times as wide as violet in the same apparatus.

Why the other options are wrong

More Diffraction questionsAll Diffraction questions →

Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.

Practise this with a timer