A light is shone through a diffraction grating of slit spacing 4.5x10^5 lines per metre. The incident wavelength is 650nm. Find the angle produced by the incident light and the 2nd order maximum.

In the question you are given the slit spacing of the diffraction grate. To find the fringe spacing of this grate you can use d=1/N where N is the slits per metre. In this question this would be 1/4.5x10^5 = d = 2x10^-6 m. To find the angle provided by the second order maximum, rearrange the equation nλ=dsinθ to make sinθ the subject.This would then become nλ/d = sinθ.To find sinθ, sub in the values given to you in the question; i.e. n=2, λ=650nm and d=2x10^-6 m.This gives sinθ=0.65.Use your calculator to find sin-1(0.65) to find θ=40.5°.

SC
Answered by Sarah C. Physics tutor

5227 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Draw the electric field lines produced by a negative point charge and calculate the electric field strength at a distance of 50mm from a point charge of size -30nC.


What is the escape velocity of an object leaving a planet mass M, radius R?


Why does the Photoelectric Effect lead to the conclusion that classical physics cannot be all of physics?


Two people sit opposite each other on the edge of a rotating disk of radius, R, and negligible mass. One person has a mass of 40kg, the other of 50kg. The disk is rotating at 30 revs/min. What is the rotational kinetic energy if R=1.5m?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning