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high schooler here.i was not convinced by the validity of the huygens secondary wavelets hypothesis and beleived that both interference and diffraction should arise from the simple wave equation $A=sin(wt-kx)$

so i went to code and here are some simulations,i want to know whether these are correct.

there are two point sources in a 2d plane and the amplitude of each pixel is calculated by summing the wave equations of each source at the pixel(principle of superposistion)

enter image description here

and voila! hyperbolic interference as expected(right?) any ways now i need to see whether diffraction arises in the same way for which i run into a problem as i have no idea to create a linear source.

But then i thought atoms.linear sources dont realy exist in nature either.what if each linear source is just millions of point sources in a line.so here is a 200*200 resolution area with 20 point sources in a line

enter image description here

the red and green are troughs and crests.at the right hand side you can find that the waves are almost linear.now running agan with 200 point sources.

enter image description here

we have our linear source.

now considering a slit in the screen.

enter image description here

there alternate fringes with a thick central fringe and other fringes of decreasing intensity.its a little rough but i think that is due to the small 200*200 area.

so what i want to know is that all beginners(read me and my classmates) seem to think that a slit bends the plane wave into spherical wave magically via Huygens principle which makes no intuitive sense(for me).Now what i think is that the slit breaks the linear source,such that the edge particles no longer have their spherical waves cancelled into the linear waves causing this multisource interference we call diffraction,right?

if you find the simulations to be correct please comment and inform.

Qmechanic
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manjit singh
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  • In single slit water wave diffraction there is no interference only diffraction. Diffraction is the spreading. Interference is a result of multi-sources in material waves but interference of light (like in the DSE) is a result of virtual fields that cause photons to travel higher probability paths. On this site you can search the Feynman path integral, similar but also significantly different to your nice simulations above. – PhysicsDave Nov 25 '22 at 04:34
  • my point is that diffraction is just interference from infinte points,water wave diffraction too can be considered as multiple atoms moving up and forth at the source and acting as a singular source.am an high schooler,so dont know of the feynman path integral – manjit singh Nov 25 '22 at 04:47
  • The wave equations (or finite difference implementation) will indeed give rise to interference, diffraction, etc. But as you are starting from a behavioral model (how each point will behave the next instant given its neighboring points, how it will behave given what time reading it is now), instead of a mechanistic model, it does not explain why the interference occurs. if you start with Hooke's law F=kx on a grid of balls, the same interference and diffraction will again appear, but from mechanistic model. – James Nov 25 '22 at 04:55
  • @James i dont get what you mean by behavourial and mechanistic models.googling it gives out stuff on consumer data interpretation.can you further elaborate. – manjit singh Nov 25 '22 at 05:03
  • @manjitsingh forgive me for not using standard terminology. the wave equation does not specify a mechanism. it says that for us to know the "behavior" or a particular point at a particular point in time, plug in the location and time into the wave equation, voila the particle will now behave in this way. Because this is a "faith" type of assertion, it's hard to ascertain why the interference appear afterwards, other than "the equation says so". Hooke's law is mechanistic since it gives a precise rule, how each particle will behave. this rule does not depend of time, location, or derivative, – James Nov 25 '22 at 05:18
  • @James yeah thats true. – manjit singh Nov 25 '22 at 05:21
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    Does this answer your question? What is the difference between diffraction and interference of light? and many others on site. – Farcher Nov 25 '22 at 08:19
  • @Farcher Dude my question was whether my simulations are correct.i have read that answer before.please read before closing the questions – manjit singh Nov 25 '22 at 15:46
  • I want to know whether the interference and diffraction arise from the wave equation and huygens seconds postulate is a bygone theory with no real relevance today – manjit singh Nov 25 '22 at 15:47

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