Diffraction?

Question

can anyone explain diffraction to me in a simple but detailed way ?

Answer 1

While x-ray diffraction is a good example, the phenomenon is much wider and shown by any waves: light, sound, water, earthquakes etc.

Diffraction in the bathtub: wait till the surface is really calm, create ripples by moving one hand up and down slightly, block then waves after they traveled some distance with your other hand. Nevertheless the waves will enter the "shadow" of the blocking hand.

Diffraction with your fingers: observing a distant lightbulb move 2 of your fingers close to your eyes. Nearly close your fingers, means: reduce the distance between them till they nearly touch each other. At a certain point you will notice that dark stripes occur. Fu you further close your fingers carefully, there will more stripes show up and the existent stripes will widen. This does not work with area like light-sources like illuminated white walls, you need a point-like source, a lightbulb in a few meters will do well. Your nearly closed fingers work as a single slit here and the dark stripes are destructive interferences where 2 rays of light cancel out each other.

On astronomical fotos stars never look like a perfect spot, but always like a small circle, sometimes surrounded by a faint ring. Diffraction at a circular aperture. And if the images show spikes coming out of the stars: diffraction at the mount of the secondary mirror, this time constructive interference.

And if you ever wondered why there are waves east of an island while the waves come from the west: diffraction. Polynesians are known to have used the specific pattern of waves behind the island for detecting a distant island they could not see at all because it was too far away.

Answer 2

x-ray diffraction can be thought of as waves interacting with particles. Crystals (regular arrangements of atoms) will diffract specific wavelengths of x-rays, creating constructive and destructive interference. Analysis of this interference and knowledge of the x-ray wave length will tell you things about the crystal structure. Watson and Crick and their coworkers figured out the structure of the DNA molecule based on x-ray diffraction measurements.

On a more basic level... one stone in a pond creates a series of waves radiating from where the stone hit. If you toss two stones, the waves travelling out from the two stones will create destructive interference where two troughs coincide and constructive interference where two peaks coincide. X-rays do the same kind of thing.

Check Wikipedia for x-ray diffraction.

Answer 3

have you ever seen that the component the slit is shrink out of is made out of remember? And that remember, being made out of protons, electrons, and neutrons, will impression the taking photos protons for the period of the reliable nuclear rigidity, the susceptible nuclear rigidity, electromagnetism, and gravity? And that the region of a proton because it is going for the period of the slit isn't difficulty-unfastened, yet truthfully be a "cloud" of quantum threat, which will bring about a good number of protons being bothered by applying the problem interior the slit somewhat in a distinctive way, ensuing in rather an enlarged "cloud" of quantum threat on the output end, that's strictly what a Fraunhofer diffraction trend is (although he did no longer be attentive to it on the time he got here up with the assumption)? This one quite is on no account complicated to comprehend. Peace.