CBSE · NCERT · Class 12 Physics · Chapter 10

NCERT Solutions: Class 12 Physics Chapter 10 - Wave Optics

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Chapter-wise NCERT intext questions and exercise answers for Wave Optics, grounded in the official textbook.

Questions are taken verbatim from the NCERT textbook; answers were grounded against the chapter's content during generation. Items needing review are marked.
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Exercises 5
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Q.10.1Monochromatic light of wavelength 589 nm is incident from air on a water surface. What are the wavelength, frequency and speed of (a) reflected, and (b) refracted light? Refractive index of water is 1.33.v
Solution

For reflected light in air, the wavelength and speed remain $589\,\text{nm}$ and $c=3.0\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. The frequency is $\nu=c/\lambda=(3.0\times10^8)/(589\times10^{-9})=5.09\times10^{14}\,\text{Hz}$. In refraction into water, frequency is unchanged. The speed becomes $v=c/n=3.0\times10^8/1.33=2.26\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$, and the wavelength becomes $\lambda_w=\lambda/n=589/1.33=443\,\text{nm}$.

Answer:

(a) Reflected light: wavelength $589\,\text{nm}$, frequency $5.09\times10^{14}\,\text{Hz}$, speed $3.0\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. (b) Refracted light: wavelength $443\,\text{nm}$, frequency $5.09\times10^{14}\,\text{Hz}$, speed $2.26\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$.

Q.10.2What is the shape of the wavefront in each of the following cases: (a) Light diverging from a point source. (b) Light emerging out of a convex lens when a point source is placed at its focus. (c) The portion of the wavefront of light from a distant star intercepted by the Earth.v
Solution

A point source sends out spherical wavefronts. A point source at the focus of a convex lens emerges as a parallel beam, so the wavefront is plane. A distant star is so far away that the small portion of its spherical wavefront intercepted by the Earth can be treated as plane.

Answer:

(a) Spherical. (b) Plane. (c) Approximately plane.

Q.10.3(a) The refractive index of glass is 1.5. What is the speed of light in glass? (Speed of light in vacuum is 3.0 × 108 m s–1) (b) Is the speed of light in glass independent of the colour of light? If not, which of the two colours red and violet travels slower in a glass prism?v
Solution

The refractive index is $n=c/v$, so $v=c/n=(3.0\times10^8)/1.5=2.0\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. Glass is dispersive, so its refractive index depends on colour. Violet has a larger refractive index in glass than red, hence $v=c/n$ is smaller for violet light.

Answer:

(a) $2.0\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}$. (b) No. Violet light travels slower than red light in a glass prism.

Q.10.4In a Young’s double-slit experiment, the slits are separated by 0.28 mm and the screen is placed 1.4 m away. The distance between the central bright fringe and the fourth bright fringe is measured to be 1.2 cm. Determine the wavelength of light used in the experiment.v
Solution

For bright fringes, $x_n=n\lambda D/d$. Here $x_4=1.2\,\text{cm}=1.2\times10^{-2}\,\text{m}$, $d=0.28\,\text{mm}=2.8\times10^{-4}\,\text{m}$, $D=1.4\,\text{m}$ and $n=4$. Thus $\lambda=x_4d/(nD)=(1.2\times10^{-2})(2.8\times10^{-4})/(4\times1.4)=6.0\times10^{-7}\,\text{m}=600\,\text{nm}$.

Answer:

$600\,\text{nm}$.

Q.10.5In Young’s double-slit experiment using monochromatic light of wavelength λ, the intensity of light at a point on the screen where path difference is λ, is K units. What is the intensity of light at a point where path difference is λ/3?v
Solution

A path difference $\lambda$ corresponds to phase difference $2\pi$, so the point is a maximum and $K=4I_0$ for equal slit intensities. For path difference $\lambda/3$, the phase difference is $\phi=2\pi/3$. The intensity is $I=4I_0\cos^2(\phi/2)=4I_0\cos^2(\pi/3)=4I_0(1/4)=I_0=K/4$.

Answer:

$K/4$.