NVAEasyJEE 2025Interference (Young's Experiment)

JEE Physics 2025 Question with Solution

A double slit interference experiment performed with a light of wavelength 600nm600 \, \text{nm} forms an interference fringe pattern on a screen with 10th bright fringe having its centre at a distance of 10mm10 \, \text{mm} from the central maximum. Distance of the centre of the same 10th bright fringe from the central maximum when the source of light is replaced by another source of wavelength 660nm660 \, \text{nm} would be:

Answer

Correct answer:11

Step-by-step solution

Standard Method

Given: Wavelength λ1=600nm\lambda_1 = 600 \, \text{nm}, position of the 10th bright fringe y1=10mmy_1 = 10 \, \text{mm}, and new wavelength λ2=660nm\lambda_2 = 660 \, \text{nm}.

Find: The new distance of the same 10th bright fringe from the central maximum.

For a double-slit interference pattern, the position of the nn-th bright fringe is

yn=nλDdy_n = \frac{n\lambda D}{d}

where λ\lambda is the wavelength, DD is the distance between slit and screen, and dd is the slit separation.

Since the same 10th bright fringe is considered, and DD and dd remain unchanged, the fringe position is directly proportional to the wavelength:

y2y1=λ2λ1\frac{y_2}{y_1} = \frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1}

Substituting the given values:

y2=y1×λ2λ1y_2 = y_1 \times \frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1} y2=10×660600y_2 = 10 \times \frac{660}{600} y2=10×1.1=11mmy_2 = 10 \times 1.1 = 11 \, \text{mm}

Therefore, the distance of the 10th bright fringe from the central maximum is 11mm11 \, \text{mm}.

Direct Proportionality Trick

Given: The 10th bright fringe is at 10mm10 \, \text{mm} for λ1=600nm\lambda_1 = 600 \, \text{nm}.

Find: Its new position for λ2=660nm\lambda_2 = 660 \, \text{nm}.

For the same fringe order in Young's double-slit experiment, the fringe position scales directly with wavelength. Therefore, increase the old position by the same factor as the wavelength increase:

660600=1.1\frac{660}{600} = 1.1

So the new position is

10×1.1=11mm10 \times 1.1 = 11 \, \text{mm}

This works because only the wavelength changes; the slit separation and screen distance stay constant. Hence the correct numerical value is 1111.

Common mistakes

  • Using fringe width instead of fringe position. Here the question asks for the position of the 10th bright fringe, not merely the fringe separation. First note that ynλy_n \propto \lambda for the same order, then scale the given position accordingly.

  • Assuming the 10th bright fringe remains at the same distance because the fringe order is unchanged. The order stays the same, but its position shifts outward when the wavelength increases.

  • Inverting the wavelength ratio and using 600660\frac{600}{660} instead of 660600\frac{660}{600}. Since the wavelength increases, the fringe position must also increase, so the multiplying factor must be greater than 11.

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