interference simulations

We’ve been looking at interference recently.  I found two nice simulations that you might want to try running at home to confirm your understanding of things like;

  • relationship between fringe spacing in the pattern & wavelength
  • location of the 0, 1st, 2nd order fringes
  • what happens when the screen is moved towards/away from the 2 slits/sources

The first simulation is based on the interference of sound waves and is similar to the experiment we set up last week in class.  Click on the image below to start the simulation, you will need Java for this to work.  Make sure you choose the two source interference tab as shown in the picture.

The second simulation can be run as sound, light or water waves.  I selected the light option for this screenshot.  Click on it to run the simulation.  You are free to run 2 sources or one source with a double slit barrier and adjust the amplitude and wavelength.

The view screen option is nice as it shows what the fringes would look like.  You can also display a plot of light intensity (irradiance).