Title: Diffraction of Light

Revision: July 2005

Authors: (Original concept – Cornell Center for Material
Research)
CIPT 5E’s Modification: Andrew J. Telesca, Jr., M
Alderman, Jim Overhiser
Appropriate Level: Physics: Grades 9-12
Abstract: The diffraction and interference of light are
observed phenomena supporting the wave nat
light. Diffraction is at the root of many techno
scientific techniques, and common visual pheno
The students will be engaged by examining some
slit diffraction and considering some questions
single slit diffraction. They will have a cha
explore by doing several hands-on activities rela
diffraction and interference. What they observed
explained in a discussion of the hands-on activiti
associated questions. Elaboration will invol
students involvement in challenge question that re
the content of the activities. The students will
chance to use their newly acquired understandings
evaluation phase.
Time Required: Two 40 minute periods
NY Standards Met: Standard 1, Math Analysis, Key Idea 3, Scientific
Inquiry Key Idea 1
Standard 4, Key Idea 4, Performance Indicator 4.3
Major Understandings l, m.4.3h When a wave stri
boundary between two media, reflection, transmis
and absorption occur. A transmitted wave may be
refracted.

CIPT – Diffraction and Interference of Light (5 E’s lesson plan.)

ENGAGE

Materials:

• 2 standard #2 pencils
• small rubberbands

Activity: The students will attach the two pencils together using the rubberbands
supplied. Looking at a light source through the slit between the pencils students will
observe a series of thin lines.
Instruction: Instruct the students in the construction of the pencil-rubberband device.
They may improve their viewing by changing the slit width. This can be done by
squeezing the pencils to decrease the slit size or by pulling them gently apart to increase
the size.

Without explaining the science, ask the students:

“What did you see?”

“What do you think causes this?
“Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“Can you create the same effect using two of your fingers?”

EXPLORE

Experience 1:

Materials:
• pen LASER
• 2 diffraction grating (500 lines/mm, 1000 lines/mm)

Activity: Students will shine the LASER light through the diffraction grating and
observe both the effect of the gratings on the LASER light but also the difference in the
effect between the two different gratings.

Instructions: Shine a pen LASER light through each grating slide onto a distant, flat
surface. The gratings are made up of a series of very closely spaced strips.

Carefully sketch the patterns you see. Change the distance between the grating and the
projecting surface and observe the any change.

Experience 2:

Materials:

• pen LASER
• fine and coarse wire mesh

Activity: Students will shine a LASER light through fine wire mesh and coarse wire
mesh and make observations of the diffraction patterns.

Instructions: Holding the fine mesh approximately 1 meter from a screen (wall), shine
the LASER through the fine mesh on to the screen. Observe the pattern and the spacing
of what is produced. Repeat this process using the coarse mesh and record the results.
Have students respond to the following:

Describe the difference between the pattern produced by the fine mesh and the
pattern produced by the coarse mesh.

Compare the pattern produced with the mesh to the pattern produced by the
diffraction grating seen in Experience 1.

Make a prediction as to the appearance of a medium mesh. How do you justify your
prediction?

Experience 3:

• Pen LASER
• LASER holding block
• Human hair
• Tape
• Blank photographic slide
• Ring stand w/ test tube clamp
• Microscope (optional)

Activity: Students will use a single human hair to create a diffraction pattern. Students
will then compare thick vs fine hair piece.

Instructions: Secure a piece of human hair and tape it across the opening of a blank
photographic slide. Support the slide in a test tube clamp and place the LASER in the
support block. Adjust the LASER to strike the hair directly and look at the image
produced. (Note: This activity works best in a darken room and at a distance of greater
than 1 meter.)

Repeat this experiment using hairs of varying thickness. (Note: A microscope may be
used to make a better observation on relative hair thickness).

Have students respond to the following:

Describe the difference between the varying hair thicknesses.

Are there any similarities/differences between the patterns created with human hair
and the patterns you have observed so far in other activities in this lab?

Experience 4:
Materials:

• Penlight
• Blank CD and DVD
• Ring stand and test tube clamp
• Microscope (optional)

Activity: Students will shine a flashlight on a CD and a DVD and compare the diffraction
patterns produced by each.

Instructions: Using the set-up pictured below, adjust the height to the flashlight and
observe the differences in the diffractions patterns in the CD vs the DVD.

Have the students respond to the following:

Describe what you see when the light is ‘reflected’ from the CD and DVD.
How do you think the recording surfaces of the CD and the DVD differ?
How could you determine the physical difference between these recording surfaces?

Note: For more student activities, refer to Abbreviated Teacher Note Section: Extra
Experiments for Students section.

EXPLAIN

Materials:

• None

Activity: Students will participate in a discussion of the commonalities sound in the

activities. The teacher will direct the discussion to lead the students toward an
understanding of the following:

Diffraction
Huygen’s Principle
Babinet’s Principle
Wave interference
Coherent light
LASER

Instructions: Teacher leads a discussion using the following:

 Discuss the EXPLORE question responses.
“Describe all of the things that are similar in all of the four EXPLORE activities and
the ENGAGE activity.”
Before presenting students with formal definitions, perform the following
demonstrations:
1. o DEMO: Wave tank (show wave properties of diffraction through a
narrow slit; (define DIFFRACTION and HUYGEN’S PRINCIPAL).
2. o DEMO: Sound wave walk (Set up a pair of stereo speakers to a sound
wave generator and as the speakers are producing the tone, have the
students walk between the speakers to hear the increase and decreases in
volume = interference patterns in the sound.); (define INTERFERENCE)

What about the piece of hair? It is not a slit, so how does it work? (define
BABINET’S PRINCIPLE)

ELABORATE

Materials:
• CD blank disc
• DVD blank disc
• HeNe LASER
• Ringstand w/test tube clamp
• Metric ruler
• Calculator

Activity: Students will determine the spacing between tracks on a CD and DVD (also
known as pitch) using Young’s equation for double-slit diffraction.

Instructions: (See Abbreviated Teacher Note Section)

EXPLORE

Materials:

• Lycopodium Powder
• Microscope slide
• Metric ruler
• HeNe LASER

Activity: Students will work in small groups to solve the problem: “What is the
approximate size of a lycopodium spore?” Students will report-out on the results of their
group’s experiment using white boards.

Instructions: Because this is an evaluation, instructor involvement should be minimal.

The teacher should monitor students progress and make certain they are using the rings in
the lycopodium diffraction pattern as the bright lines seen in a slit experiment.

CIPT – Diffraction and Interference of Light Student

Worksheet

Pencil/Rubberband activity

Materials:

• 2 standard #2 pencils
• small rubberbands

Instruction: Construct a pencil-rubberband device. This is done by taking two pencils

and stretching a rubberband around the top and bottom of the two pencils. Look at a
distant light source through the narrow slit and record observation on what you see. You
should see a series of lines. You may improve your viewing by changing the slit width.
This can be done by squeezing the pencils to decrease the slit size or by pulling them
gently apart to increase the size.

Respond to the following questions:

“What did you see?”

“What do you think causes this?

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Create the same effect using two of your fingers. Describe how you did this
successfully”
Experience 1: (Diffration Gratings)

Materials:
• pen LASER
• 2 diffraction grating (500 lines/mm, 1000 lines/mm)

Instructions: Shine a pen LASER light through each grating slide onto a distant, flat
surface. The gratings are made up of a series of very closely spaced strips.

Carefully sketch the patterns you see. Change the distance between the grating and the
projecting surface and observe the any change.

OBSERVATIONS:
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 500 lines/mm 1000 lines/mm

What affect did changing the distance between the grating and the wall have on the image
produced?

Experience 2: (Wire mesh)

Materials:

• pen LASER
• fine and coarse wire mesh

Instructions: Holding the fine mesh approximately 1 meter from a screen (wall), shine
the LASER through the fine mesh on to the screen. Observe the pattern and the spacing
of what is produced. Repeat this process using the coarse mesh and record the results.

Record your observations in the spaces below:

 ffd8ffe000104a4649460001020100c800c80000ffe20c584943435f50524f46494c450001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ffd8ffe000104a4649460001020100c800c80000ffe20c584943435f50524f46494c450001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Fine mesh Coarse mesh

Respond to the following:

Compare the pattern produced with the mesh to the pattern produced by the diffraction
grating seen in Experience 1.

Make a prediction as to the appearance of a medium mesh. How do you justify your
prediction?

Experience 3: (Human Hair)

• Pen LASER
• LASER holding block
• Human hair
• Tape
• Blank photographic slide
• Ring stand w/ test tube clamp
• Microscope (optional)

Instructions: Secure a piece of human hair and tape it across the opening of a blank
photographic slide. Support the slide in a test tube clamp and place the LASER in the
support block. Adjust the LASER to strike the hair directly and look at the image
produced. (Note: This activity works best in a darken room and at a distance of greater
than 1 meter.)

Repeat this experiment using hairs of varying thickness. (Note: A microscope may be
used to make a better observation on relative hair thickness).

Respond to the following:

Describe the difference in the pattern created between the varying hair thicknesses.

Are there any similarities/differences between the patterns created with human hair and
the patterns you have observed so far in other activities in this lab?

Experience 4: (CD and DVD Diffraction)

Materials:

• Penlight
• Blank CD and DVD
• Ring stand and test tube clamp
• Microscope (optional)

Instructions: Using the set-up pictured below, adjust the height to the flashlight and
observe the differences in the diffractions patterns in the CD vs the DVD.

[JPEG of set up]

Respond to the following:

Describe what you see when the light is ‘reflected’ from the CD and DVD.

How do you think the recording surfaces of the CD and the DVD differ?

How could you determine the physical difference between these recording surfaces?

You will now participate in a discussion of the commonalities found in these activities.
The teacher will direct the discussion to lead the students toward an understanding of
related physics concepts. As you listen to the discussion, develop a personal definition
for the following terms and record them in the spaces below.
 Diffraction

Huygen’s Principle

Babinet’s Principle

Wave interference

Coherent light

LASER

Respond to the following questions:

Describe all of the things that are similar in all of the five activities performed so far.

What concept(s) did the wave tank demonstration help you to understand?

What concept(s) did the sound walk demonstration help you to understand?

What about the piece of hair? It is not a slit, so how does it work?
Challenge: What is the spacing difference between the lines of a CD vs a DVD?

Materials:
• CD blank disc
• DVD blank disc
• HeNe LASER
• Ringstand w/test tube clamp
• Metric ruler
• Calculator

Instructions: (See hand-out)

Distance between lines:

CD ______________

DVD ______________

Challenge: What is the approximate size of a lycopodium spore?

Materials:

• Lycopodium Powder
• Microscope slide
• Metric ruler
• HeNe LASER

Describe your experiment in the space below: (Illustrations are a good thing)