What is diffraction?
Diffraction is the spreading out of waves, such as those of water, sound, radio, or light, as they pass around an obstacle, or go through an opening. If you screw your eyes up, and look at a streetlight in the dark, as your eyes close, the light seems to spread out in strange stripes as it squeezes through the narrow gaps between your eyelashes. The tighter you close your eyes, the more the light spreads- this is because of the diffraction of light.
The phenomenon of diffraction was first recorded by an English physicist, Thomas young, in 1801. He noticed that light rays spread out, or were Iffracted', when they passed hrough a very small slit. Light ayes may be diffracted only under certain conditions. For example, light waves ordinarily will not turn corners, but they will be diffracted when they pass through tiny openings.
The diffraction pattern, the pattern of dark and light created when light bends around an edge, shows that light has wavelike properties.
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