Tag: huygens wave theory and wavefront

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Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

Which of the following phenomena can be used to analyse a beam of light into its component wavelength?

  1. Reflection

  2. Refraction

  3. Polarisation

  4. Interference
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation
  • Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves  also experience refraction. 
  • How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
  • Hence refraction is used to analyse a beam of light into its component wavelength
  • Option B is the right answer
Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

Huygen's concept of wavelets is useful in

  1. explaining polarisation

  2. determining focal length of lenses

  3. determining chromatic aberration

  4. geometrical reconstruction of a wavefront
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation
Huygens considered that light was propagated in longitudinal waves.
Huygen's concept explained the direction of propagation of light waves by geometrical reconstruction of wavefront. 

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

Ray optics is valid when characteristic dimensions are

  1. of the same order as the wavelength of light

  2. much smaller than the wavelength of light

  3. much larger than the wavelength of light

  4. of the order of 1 mm
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Ray optics is valid when characteristics dimensions are larger than the wavelength of the light, so that rectilinear property of light can be used.

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

Who first proposed that light was wave-like in character ?

  1. Huygens

  2. Newton

  3. Young

  4. Maxwell
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Huygens 

In 1678, Dutch physcist, christian Huygens beived that light was made up of waves vibrating up and down perpendicular to the direction of the light travels, and therefore formulated a way of visualising wave propagation. This became known as Huygens Principe. 

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

A : The phase difference between any two points on a wave front is zero
R : From the source light, reaches every point on the wave front in the same time.

  1. Both A and R are true, and R is correct explanation of A

  2. Both A and R are true, and R is not correct explanation of A

  3. A is true but R is false

  4. A is false but R is true
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

A wave front is the locus of points having the same phase.
Thus statement A is true because the phase difference is zero as all points have same phase.
Statement R is true because a wavefront is composed of all points where the light reaches from the source in the same time.
As light takes the same time it has the same phase at all points on a wavefront and hence it correctly explains statement A.

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

1: Primary waves can travel in all directions in an ether
2: Secondary waves can travel only in backward in an ether

  1. 1 is true, 2 is false

  2. Both 1 and 2 are true

  3. 1 is false, 2 is true

  4. Both 1 and 2 are false
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Primary wave can travel in all directions in ether.
Secondary waves can travel in forward direction in ether

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

The wave theory of light, in its original form, was first postulated by.

  1. Isaac Newton

  2. Christian Huygens

  3. Thomas Young

  4. Augustin Jean Fresnel
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

B

In 1678, Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens,  believed that the light was made up of waves vibrating up and down perpendicular to the direction of the light travels and therefore formulated away of visualising wave propagation. This becomes know as Huygens principle. Huygens theory was the successful theory of light in three dimensions. Huygens suggested that the light wave peaks form from surfaces like the layers of onion. In a vacuum or other uniform mediums the light waves are spherical and these wave surfaces advance or spread out as they travel at the speed if light. This theory explains why light shining through a pinhole or slitwall spread out rather than going in straight lines. 

Multiple choice physics wave optics huygens wave theory and wavefront wave propagation (huygens' construction) theories on light wave behaviour

Which experiment seemed to make it clear that light propogates as a wave?

  1. Milikan's oil drop experiment

  2. The Michelson-Morley experiment

  3. Young's double-slit experiment

  4. Fresnel's lens experiment

  5. Lenz's proof of Lenz's law
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation
Young's double slit experiment 
The double slit experiment is a demonstration that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles. Moreover it displays the fundamentally probabislistic nature of quantum mechanical phenomena