PhysicsLAB: 2011 B3

AP Free Response Question
2011 B3

Printer Friendly Version

Two metal strips are brought together until their edges are separated by a small distance d, forming a narrow slit, as represented below. You are to design a laboratory experiment to determine the width of the slit.

	(a) From the following list of available equipment, check those additional items you would use for the purpose of determining the slit width d.

	(b) Sketch a diagram of your experimental setup and label the pieces of equipment that would be used.

	(c) Outline the experimental procedure you would use, including a list of quantities you would measure. For each quantity, identify the equipment you would use to make the measurement.

	(d) Explain how you would calculate the slit width d by using the measured quantities identified in (c).

	(e) Suppose the separation d between the strips was increased, but everything else was kept the same. What changes would you expect to observe? Explain your reasoning.

Topic Formulas