Single slit interference made easy with a strand of hair and a laser

Rebecca Messer

Citation: The Physics Teacher 56, 58 (2018);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5018699
View Table of Contents: http://aapt.scitation.org/toc/pte/56/1
Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers
 Dolores Gende, Column Editor
talkin’ physics North Broward Preparatory School, Coconut Creek, FL; dgende@gmail.com

Single slit interference made card as in the diagram shown in

easy with a strand of hair and a Fig. 3.
Position the laser so that it
laser strikes the hair. The interference
Rebecca Messer, Northfield High School, Northfield, MN 55057; Fig. 3. Hair mounted ver- pattern can be observed on a screen
rmesser@northfieldschools.org tically across a hole in an placed at least one meter away. The
index card.
greater the distance L, the larger

S tudents can easily measure the width of a strand of their

own hair with a monochromatic light source such as a
laser. This inexpensive activity engages students in an applica-
the pattern will appear as shown in Fig. 4. The distance to the
screen should be recorded.

tion of single slit diffraction using Babinet’s principle.

Background information
The wave property of light can be illustrated by the inter-
ference pattern produced by shining a laser light upon a slit.1,2
Babinet’s principle states that complementary objects will
form identical diffraction patterns. If the slit is replaced with
an object of the same width, an identical interference pattern Fig. 4. Single slit interference pattern pro-
occurs.3 duced by a hair using a He-Ne laser light.
A laser4 and a single slit opening can be set up as shown in Tape a piece of paper on the screen. Mark the middle of
Fig. 1 to produce an interference pattern on the screen. the central maximum and the middle of the dark lines to five
or six lines on each side of the central maximum (see Fig. 5).
The paper can now be removed from the screen for quantita-
tive analysis.

Fig. 5. Raw student data.

Fig. 1. Experimental setup.
The single slit interference pattern is represented on the
diagram in Fig. 2. The interference pattern has a wide central
maximum, a bright band, followed by a series of alternating
thinner dark bands and bright bands, repeating to the left and
the right of the central maximum.
Measure the distance (s) between the first (n = 1) minima
(dark line) on each side of the central maximum. Dividing by
two will give you the linear distance (y), in order to calculate
the angle (θ). Repeat the measurements for the distance be-
tween the second minima on each side and the third minima
on each side as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 2. Interference pattern.

The spacing of the bands depends upon the wavelength of
the light ( ), the distance from the slit to the screen (L), and
the width of the slit (w). Destructive interference occurs when
the path difference between the light waves diffracted by each
edge of the slit is equal to a whole number of wavelengths
(n ).
In equation form,

n = w sin . (1)
Fig. 6. Measurement of distances between corresponding
minima.
Experimental procedure
Tape a strand of hair with vertical orientation on an index From these measurements and the wavelength of the laser
card with a hole punched somewhere near the middle of the light, the width of the hair can be determined.

58 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 56, J anuary 2018 DOI: 10.1119/1.5018699

 talkin’ physics

Results and activity questions

Fig. 7. Distance (L) from slit to screen is much greater than
the destructive interference band distance (y).
Since the distance (L) between the slit to the screen is
much larger than the distance from the center of the central
maximum to the center of the dark band (y), as shown on Fig.
7, we can use the small-angle approximation sin θ < tan θ
such that:
(2)
Substituting into Eq. (1),
(3)
The width is given by double slit interference pattern as shown in Fig. 8.
(4)
The following data table shows the results using a red He-
Ne laser with a wavelength of 632.8 nm and a hair-to-screen
distance L = 1.285 m.
Table I. Sample data table for width of hair calculation.
Based on student data, average values for the width of a
hair are on the order of 7310-5m. This width yields values of
approximately 15 hairs per millimeter. There is a variation in
width of hair depending upon the type of hair.5 A micrometer
or microscope can be used to verify the results.
Here are some ideas for extending the activity:
• Compare the diameter of straight hair to curly hair.
• Replace the red laser with a green laser.
• Use an object such as a piece of thread or thin wire.
• Research the role of laser diffraction in the industrial
production of wires.6
• An alternative experiment can be done by folding the
hair over to make a “double slit” interference pattern.
The distance between the hair and the screen should
be increased to enlarge the pattern. It is interesting to
notice the single slit interference pattern overlay on the
• Model how Rosalind Franklin determined the pitch
angle of DNA.7,8

n s (mm) y (m) w (m)

1 24.5 1.20310–2 6.64310–5
Fig. 8. Double slit interference pattern with single slit interfer-
2 45.0 2.30310–2 7.23310–5 ence pattern overlay.
3 73.0 3.70310–2 6.68310–5
4 98.0 4.903 10–2 6.64310–5 References
5 123.0 1. David Young and Stadler Shane, Cutnell & Johnson Physics (Wi-
6.20310–2 6.61310–5
ley, 2014), Sec. 27.5
2. Douglas Giancoli, Physics Principles with Applications (Pearson,
Questions 2013), Sec. 24-5.
After the students determine the average value for the 3. T. Greenslade Jr., “Diffraction by a cat’s whisker,” Phys. Teach.
38, 422 (Oct. 2000).
width of the hair, you can ask if the value found for the diame-
4. Affordable lasers with on/off switches can be obtained online
ter of a hair make sense. When the students say, “Yes, it makes
by purchasing laser pointers or inexpensive gun sights.
sense,” ask them how they know. Students usually respond, “It
5. Glenn Elert, ed., The Physics Factbook, https://hypertextbook.
makes sense because it is a really small number.” This is not com/facts/1999/BrianLey.shtml.
good enough, because it does not demonstrate the logic of the 6. Laser Technology in the Wire Industry, http://www.aeroel.it/
number sense behind their response. Have the students con- products/extruline-laser-systems-for-on-line-diameter-extru-
vert the average value of the hair width to a number that cor- sion-control/36-inglese/applicazioni.html.
responds to something they are familiar with. Using a sheet 7. Gregory Braun, Dennis Tierney, and Heidrun Schmitzer, “How
of paper is convenient, since most students know that a ream Rosalind Franklin discovered the helical structure of DNA: Ex-
is 500 sheets so a single sheet is about 3 cm/500 ~ 6310-5 m periments in diffraction,” Phys. Teach. 49, 140 (March, 2011).
thick. This will allow them to explain more clearly how the 8. AAPT DigiKit: DNA Science. This multidisciplinary collection
size of the number does indeed make sense. integrates physics, chemistry, and biology as students engage
in a diffraction lab to model the work of Rosalind Franklin.
https://www.compadre.org/books/DNA.

The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 56, January 2018 59