Lee Sze Yiu 5C 14

Title: Plane transmission grating

A. Abstract

This experiment is carried out in order to find out the

wavelength of red and blue light. As light is a kind of wave ,so it

shows the properties of diffraction and interference. After

parallel monochromatic light pass through the slits, it will

diffract through the slits to become two light rays . Then two

light rays will interfere with each other to form bright and dark

fringe which indicate that there are constructive and

destructive interference .By using formula, we can determine

the wavelength of red and blue light.

B. introduction

 Background of Plane transmission grating

A plane transmission grating is an optical instrument consisting

of a series of narrow slits (about 100 to 500 slits in 1mm). It can

be made by ruling a number of evenly separated opaque lines

on a transparent glass sheet. James Gregory observed the

diffraction patterns caused by a bird feather, which was

year after Isaac Newton’s prism experiments. The first man-

made diffraction grating was made around 1785 by Philadelphia

inventor David Rittenhouse, who strung hairs between two

finely threaded screws.

 Theories

When parallel monochromatic light rays are incident on the

slits, they diffract and interfere with each other . As

interference will not happen when the source is not coherent

which means that the source has same frequency and phase

difference, so we should use monochromatic light.

Suppose the incident rays has a single wavelength of x.

Constructive interference occurs where path differences of the

diffracted rays are interger,e.g. zero,x,2x ,3x and so on.

Destructive interference occurs where path differences consists

1/2, e.g. 0.5x,1.5x ,2.5x ,3.5x and so in. If a screen is placed

behind the grating , an interference consisting of alternate

bright fringes which are responsible to constructive

interference and dark fringes which are responsible to

separation is affected by the wavelength, when the wavelength

is larger, the fringe separation will increase and easier to

observe, we can determine which colour has a longer

wavelength by observing the fringe separation only. As light is a

kind of wave ,it has the properties of diffraction and

interference. Also we can make use of the formula to find out

the wavelength of different colours of light or the fringe

separations. The formula is d sin =n where d is slit separation ,

n is a non-negetive interger and is the angle of the wave

incidence to the grating.Also,the grating equation can be

derived by using the Huygens–Fresnel principle, stating that

each point on a wavefront of a propagating wave can be

considered to act as a point wave source, and a wavefront at

any subsequent point can be found by adding together the

contributions from each of these individual point wave sources

on the previous wavefront.

Apparatus

Figure(1) 2 meter rulers Figure (2) low voltage power supply

filters
Figure(5) the whole set

up Figure (6) observe

in front of the grating

Figure (7)and (8)

Blue and red bright fringe observed in front of the grating

1. Put the two meter rulers in T-shape.

2. Put the diffraction grating in front of the ruler which is put in

vertical direction.

3. Put the ray box approximately one meter away from the

ruler which is put in horizontal direction.

4. Insert the red filter to the ray box.

5. Turn on the low voltage power supply .

6. Make sure the ray box ,the ruler which is put in vertical

direction and the diffraction grating are on the same straight

line.

7. Observe the bright fringe in front of the diffraction grating.

8. Use formula d sin =n to calculate the wavelength of red light

where tan = distance between from the center of T-shape

the bright fringe over one which is the length of meter ruler.

9. Repeat the same steps to find out the wavelength of blue

light.

Result and data analysis

Red 0.21 11.9 6.87×10

Blue 0.141 8.03 4.65×10

 X is the distance between the center maximum and bright

fringe observed and the distance from the grating to the

center maximum is one.

 Therefore, can be found by tan = x/1.

 As this experiment uses diffraction grating, we should use

the formula d sin =n to find the wavelength where n is the

slit separation which is 1×10 /300=3.33×10 m.

 From the result , red light has a longer wavelength than blue

light.

Discussion

The wavelength of red light is at around 620 nanometers and

the wavelength of blue light is at around 450 nanometers. It can

be seen that the results of the experiment are slightly larger

than the actual wavelengths . Therefore, there are several

sources of error.
 By the formula of d sin =n ,d which is the slit separation is

directly proportional to wavelength. Therefore, if the slit

separation is not small enough, the calculated wavelength

will be larger than the actual wavelength.

 There will be some human error since the distance x which

is the distance between the center maximum and bright

fringe using to calculate the is determined by eyes.

Therefore, the distance may not exactly same as the

expected distance.

 If the slit separation is not small enough, the angle of

diffraction will decrease and the fringe will be less

separated. Therefore, the fringe separation will be difficult

to observe and the value of fringe separation is not accurate

enough.

Improvements

 In order to reduce the sources of error,we can use a

diffraction grating which has smaller separation,e.g. 500

lines per mm. The smaller the slit separation is , the more

accurate the results are.

experiment for many times and then take the average.

Furthermore, we can also plot the graph by using different

orders of bright fringes and different sin .Then we draw the

best fit line to find out the wavelength as the slope of the

graph is sin /order of bright fringe.

 In order to find out the sin more accurately, we can use the

ruler which has the smaller intervals.

 If the fringe separation is wider ,it will become easier to

observe. Therefore, human error can be mitigated. When

using the diffraction grating with smaller separation, this

means that the slits are closer to each other, this will make

the fringe separation wider and will be easier to observe.

Limitation

 Monochromatic light must be used instead of using two

light bulbs to make sure that the source is coherent.

 As the wavelength of the other colors of light except red

have smaller wavelengths , their fringe separation will be

more difficult to observe. Therefore, the difference between

 If the slit separation is too large (e.g. 10cm),the light will not

diffract and interfere with each other as the wavelength of

light is very small and it will bypass the slit directly and

won’t have diffraction and interference. Therefore, we can

only use the grating with very small slit separation.

Conclusion

By making use of the diffraction grating and the properties of

wave (diffraction and interference), we can find out the

wavelengths of different colours. Since there are some sources

error, such as human error and the slit separation, we need to

modify the experiment or carry out the experiment for many

times in order to get the results as accurate as possible. In

addition, diffraction grating is often used in our daily life,

namely lasers , gratings from electronic components and

spectrometer. Hence, diffraction grating is really important

because it can not only find the wavelengths if different colours,

but also have many applications in our daily life.