Question
Distinguish between the phenomenon of interference and diffraction.
✓
Answer
| No | Interference | Diffraction |
| 1 | Interference is due to superposition of waves from different wavefronts. |
Diffraction is due to waves coming from different parts of the same wavefront. |
| 2 | All bright fringes are of equal intensity | Intensity decreases with the order of bright band. |
| 3 | Minimum intensity may be zero. | Minimum intensity is not zero. |
| 4 | Width of the central maximum is same as that of other bright fringes i.e fringe width is same for all fringes including central maxima. |
Width of central maximum is broader than other maxima and it is double the fringe width. |
| 5 | The waves emitted by two coherent sources travel in straight line. | The light waves are bend at the corners and displaced from their straight line path. |
| 6 | The resolving power of an optical instrument does not depend on the phenomenon of interference. | The resolving power of an optical instrument depends on the phenomenon of diffraction |
| 7 |  |
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