Could an experiment similar to Young's two-slit experiment be performed with sound? How might this be carried out?Does it matter that sound waves are longitudinal and electromagnetic waves are transverse? Explain.

Question

Could an experiment similar to Young&#039;s two-slit experiment be performed with sound? How might this be carried out?Does it matter that sound waves are longitudinal and electromagnetic waves are transverse? Explain.

Alison Mcgrath · Accepted Answer

Young&#039;s double slit experiment can be performed with any kind of waves since it only relies on superposition of waves and Huygens&#039; principle. All waves can interfere, no matter if they are longitudinal or transverse. 1The difference between light interference and sound interference in the context of the double slit experiment is that sound waves have a much larger wavelength, so the experiment itself should be on a larger scale. The distance between the slits should be of the order of the wavelength and the detectors should be some sort of microphones. We can also expect that there will be no complete destructive interference because the wavelength is so large that the limit where the distance between the slits is small would not be very accurate and the mathematical description would be much more complicated.Result:We can have interference patterns for any type of wave, but the experiment would have to be on a larger scale because the wavelength of sound waves is much larger than wavelengths of light.

"Could an experiment similar to Young's two-slit experiment be performed with sound? How might this be carried out? Does it matter that sound waves are longitudinal and electromagnetic waves are transverse? Explain."

Open question

Answer & Explanation

New Questions in Wave motion