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Question
According to Huygens's principle, the amplitude of secondary wavelets is ______.
Options
equal in both the forward and the backward directions.
maximum in the forward direction and zero in the backward direction.
large in the forward direction and small in the backward direction.
small in the forward direction and large in the backward direction.
Solution
According to Huygens's principle, the amplitude of secondary wavelets is equal in both the forward and the backward directions.
Explanation:
- The Huygen principle states that every point on a wavefront serves as a source for secondary wavelets, whose amplitudes are proportional to those of the original wavefront. The secondary wavelets' amplitude, however, remains constant in all directions.
- Option (maximum in the forward direction and zero in the backward direction.) is not correct as the amplitude of the secondary wavelets is not zero in the backward direction.
- The amplitude of the secondary wavelets relies on the geometry and shape of the wavefront and may not be the same in all directions, therefore, options (large in the forward direction and small in the backward direction.) and (small in the forward direction and large in the backward direction.) are not necessarily true.
- So none of them is the exact answer for this, but the option (equal in both the forward and the backward directions.) could be correct either time.
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