Waves and Diffraction: Lab ReportTitle:Lab: Waves and DiffractionPurpose:When a wave encounters a small obstacle or the edge of a barrier, the phenomenon known asdiffraction will occur. The wave theory of light can help explain diffraction, although observingdiffraction of light directly is difficult due to the very short wavelengths of light. In this lab, you willuse a “ripple tank” simulation, which provides a convenient way to study wave diffraction on alarger scale, since the principles of wave diffraction apply to physical waves (such as soundwaves and waves in liquid) as well as electromagnetic waveswaves
The diffraction of classical waves refers to the phenomenon wherein the waves encounter an obstacle that fragments the wave into components that interfere with one another. Interference simply means that the wave fronts add together to make a new wave which can be significantly different than the original wave. For example, a pair of sine waves having the same amplitude, but being 180◦ out of phase will sum to zero, since everywhere one is positive, the other is negative by an equal amount.
