Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

Determiningthediameterofahumanhair
PriortocompletingthisInvestigation,aRiskassessmentwascompletedtomakesureitwas
knowntowhatmeasurestheequiptmentrequiredhandlingof.Thiscanbeseenbelowin
table1.

Table1
:Riskassessmentcompletedpriortothecompletetionoftheexperimentwithanoveral
HazardassessmentratedasHIGH.

SafetyHazardRiskAssessment
PossibleHazard

SuggestedSafeOperatingProcedure

HealthHazard

Avoiddirectexposurefromthelaserbeam
totheeyesorskin
Wearsafetyglasses
Donotwavelaseraround
Makesurethelaseristurnedoff
whennotinuse

HealthHazard

Donotpokeselfwithmetalwireanywhere

Fire,explosionorthermaldamage

Makesureequiptmentbeingusedor
in/aroundareaisnotfaulty
Makesuretocheckalltagsand
wiresfor

Introduction
Thedoubleslitexperiment,devisedbyEnglishPhysicistThomasYoungin1801
demostratedthatlighthasbothawavelikenatureandaparticlenature.Priortocompleting
thisexperiment,Younghadastrongbeliefinlightbeingcomposedofwavesandreasoned
thatsometypeofinteractionwouldoccurwhentwowavesmet(ParryHillandDavidson,
2015).

Intheoriginalversionofthisexperiment,acoherantlightsourcesuchasalaserbeamwas
aimedtowardsaplatepiercedwith2parallelslits,andthelightpassingthroughtheslitswas
observedonascreen(Feynmenetal.,2016).ThisinvestigationusesYoungsasabase
howeverinsteadofusingaplatepiercedwith2slits,thelaserisaimedtowardsastrandof
humanhairtodeterminethediameter.Asadoubleslitisnotused,itisthereforeasingleslit
diffraction.Thismeansthatthelaserdoesnotpassthroughthehairbutgoesarounditand
displaysaspecificpatternonthewall.Byobservingthepatternandmeasuringthedistance
betweenthecentralandouterminimas,theequation dsin = m canthenbeusedand
rearrangedtofindthediameter.

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

Hypothesis
Iisassumedthatifanexperimentissetupandconductlyaptly,thenthediameterofthe
strandofhumanhaircanthenbeidentified.

Variables
Independent
Thequalityoftheexperiment
Dependent
Thediameterofthehair
Controlled
Thehair
Thewire
Thewavelengthofthelaser
Thedistancefromthehair/wiretothewall(L)

Apparatus

2retortstandstands
2clamps
Gluetac
Scissors
Pieceofcardboard(15cmx10cm)
1mruler
6xwhiteA4paper
Pencil
650nmlaser

Procedure
1. Amountingbracketwasmadebycuttingan11cmx6cmholeinthecenterofthe
pieceofcardboard.
2. Providedastrandofhair(approximately15to20cmlong)fromafellowgroup
member,itwasmountedonthecutoutbracketusinggluetaconbothends.
3. Usingaclamp,themountingbracketwasabletobeheldinplaceonaretortstand.
4. Asecondclampwasusedtoholdahandheldlaserof650nminplacebehindthe
mountedbracketonasecondretortstand.
5. Onthewallinfrontoftheretortstand,awhitepieceofpaperwasplacedhorizontally
usingguletacinordertoprepareforrecordingthefirsttrial.
6. Thelaserwasturnedonanditwasmadesurethatthelaserwasaimedonthewhite
paperonthewall.
7. Onceaclearreadingcouldbeseenshowingbrightanddarkbands,aquicksketchof
thelaserpatternwasmadeandthelaserwasturnedoff.

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

8. Steps57wererepeated3timesinordertocollectsufficientdataforthediameterof
tehair.
9. Steps28wererepeatedbutthehairwasreplacedwithathinpieceofwirewiththe
samelength(15to20cm).

Diagram/labelledImage

Figure1:
Labelleddiagramofthesetupoftheexperiment

Results
Inordertodetermineanapproximatenumberforthediameterofthestrandofhairandthe
wire,theavereragesofthedistancesbetweenthecentralminimaandtheouterminimasare
required.Howeverprovidedtheresources,thewavelength,thedistancebetweenthecenter
brightbandandtheouterdarkbands(y)andthedistancefromthehairorwiretothewall(L)
weregiven,butaswellasthediameterofthehairandwire,theslopeneededtobe
calculated.

TheresultsfromtheInvestigationsandtheaveragescanbeseenbelowin
table2
and
table
3
.

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

Table2:
Theresultsfoundwhilstaimingthelaserthroughthestrandofhair.mbeingthemeasured
distancefromthecenterofthebrightfringetotheouterdarkfringes(theleftsidebeingfirst).

ResultsfortheDiameteroftheStrandofHair

Distancebetweenthecenterbrightbandandtheouterdarkbands(y)(cm)

Dark
band(m)
(leftside
andright
side)

T1

T2

T3

Average

1.0

1.4

1.8

1.7

1.8

1.5

1.8

2.2

2.9

3.4

3.2

3.2

3.8

3.5

3.4

4.3

5.0

5.0

5.1

5.0

5.1

Figure2:
Thisgraphshowstherelationshipbetweenthefringeseparationagainsttheminima
numberwhetheritbe1,2or3forthelaserpassingthroughthestrandofhair.

Table3:
Theresultsfoundwhistaimingthelaserthroughthestrandofwire.mbeingthemeasured
distancefromthecenterofthebriightfringetotheouterdarkfringes(theleftsidebeingfirst).

ResultsfortheDiameteroftheWire

Dark
band(m)
(leftside
andright

Distancebetweenthecenterbrightbandandtheouterdarkbands(y)(cm)
T1

T2

T3

Average

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

side)
1

1.0

1.4

1.2

1.5

1.3

1.3

1.3

2.2

2.9

2.6

2.7

2.6

2.7

2.6

3.4

4.3

4.0

3.8

4.0

3.8..

3.8

Figure3:
Thisgraphshowstherelationshipbetweenthefringeseparationagainsttheminima
numberwhetheritbe1,2or3forthelaserpassingthroughthewire.

Inboth
figure2
and
figure3
,theslopeisrepresentedintheequationy=mx+cwherethe
slopeism.

Tofindthewidthofthestrandofhairandthewidthofthewire,severalcalculationsmustbe
made.Theequationthatisusedis: dsin = m wheredisthediameterofthehair, isthe
angleofdiffraction, isthewavelengthofthelaserandmistheorderofdiffraction.

Thereforethisequationhastoberearrangedtofindd.Howeveras wasnotmeasured,it
hastoberelatedtowhatwasmeasured,inthiscasey.Fortunatelythisangleisquitesmall
andthereforeusingthesmallangleapproximation sin tan .

tan = Ly
Thereforehthiscanreplacetheequationinvolving sin
andhence:
dy
L

= m

Tomakethegraphwhichcanbeseenaboveinfigure1andfigure2,theequationcanbe
rearrangedtogetyoneoneside:

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

L
y = mL
d where d istheslope.Thisequationcanfinallyberearrangedtofindd.However
providedtheequationinbothfigures2and3,theslopeisgiven.

Sothegivennumbersfromtheinvestigationarethewavelengthofthelaser( ),the
distancefromthecentralbrightspottothemiddleoftheouterdarkspots(y),Lwhichisthe
distancefromthehairorwiretothewallandtheslope.
Asampleoftheresultscanbeseenbelow:

FIndthewidthofthestrandofhairgiventheaveragesin
table2
aboveandtheslopein
figure2
:

L
d = slope

= 650nm = 6.5 10m

L = 2.33m
Slope = 1.65cm = 0.0165m

(6.510

)(2.33)
d =

0.0165

= 1.5145 10

= 9.18 10
m = 91.8m
ThereforeprovidedthecalculatedaveragesofLfromthepractical,thefoundwidth
ofthestrandofhairis 91.8m .Thissameprocesswasdoneforthewireandthe
resultprovidedthecalculatedaveragesforofLwas 1.21 10
m = 121m .

Thesenumberswerecomparedtothetruevaluesofeachdiameterbyfindingthe
percentageerror.Thesecanbeseenbelowin
table4
.
Theprocessforfindingthepercentageerrorisbyusingtheequation

(CalculatedV alueTrueV alue)

100
TrueV alue
Asampleoffindingthepercentageerrorcanbeseenbelow:
Forthestrandofhair:
Thetruevalueforhumanhairisapproximately100 m
T hepercentageerror =

(91.8100)
100
100

= 0.082 100 = apercentageerrorof8.2%

Table4:
Thistableshowsacomparisonbetweenboththediametersbyshowingthepercentageerror
ofthecalculations

ComparisonoftheCalculateddiameteragainsttheTrueDiameter
Material

Calculated

TrueValue (m)

Percentageerror

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

Diameter (m)

(%)

Hair

91.8

100

8.20

Wire

121

120

0.83

Discussion
WhenthisexperimentwasfirstcompletedbyThomasYoung,itwasonlyunderstoodby
imagininglighttobespreadlikewavesofwater.Itwasinitiallythoughtthatlightwaves
movedoutfromthelightsourcelikewavesspreadingoutfromarockbeingdroppedintoa
pond,andthatwhenthewavefronthitsthedoubleslits,thentheoriginalwavepasses
throughtheslits,andhence2wavesareformed(ThePhysicsofLasers,2016).

Thewavenatureoflightcausedthelightwavestopassthroughtheslitstointerfereand
thereforeproducuingbrightanddarkbandsonthewallaresultthatwouldnotbeexpected
iflightconsistedofparticles(MandHill,2016).

However,thelightwasfoundtobeabosrbed
onthescreenatdiscretepointsasindividualparticles(notwaves).Theinterferencepattern
appearedthroughthevaryingdensityoftheseparticleswhichcouldbeseenonthescreen.
Thedarkandlightregionsarecalledinterferencefringes,theconstructiveanddestrutive
interferenceoflightwaves(Darling,2016).

In
tables2and3
,thefoundresultsforthefringeseparationscanbecomparedasthe
averagesforbotharequitesimilar.Itwasthoughtthatgiventhissimilarity,thesimilarities
mustcontinueforthefinalcalculationsofthediameterforboth,howeverthiswasnotthe
case.Itwasfoundthatthecalculateddiameterswerealmost85%offeachother(between
thewireandhair).Howevercomparedtothetruevalues,thewirewastheclosesttoitasit
onlyhadapercentageerrorof0.83%.Thisisextremelyaccurateprovidedthematerialsand
thesourcesoferrorsthatwerepossible.

Anerrorthatcouldhaveoccuredwasthepositioningofthelaser.Duringtheexpeiment,it
wasquitedifficulttokeepthelaserinthesamepositionandyetstillhaveitstrikepassedthe
hairorwire.Thiscouldhavebeenpreventedbyusingabenchtoplaserwhichstaysflaton
thebenchtopandhencedoesnotmove.Thisalsowouldhavemadeiteasiertopositionto
paperonthewallratherthanhavingtomovethepaper,thehairmountedonthecutout
bracketandthelaser.

Arandomerrorthatcouldhaveaffectedtheresultswastheroughnessofthesketched
markswhenrecordingthebandsfromthelaser.Thiscouldhavebeenimprovedbyusinga
ruler.

Anerrorthatcouldhaveimpactedtheresultswasthetherounghsketchingofthelines
tracedoffthelaserpattern.Havingalreadysaidthis,aseconderrorrelatingtothiswasnot
drawingthelinesexactlyinthecenterofthedarkspotsandthecetralbrightspot.To

Name: JasminMalhotraLSGTeacher:KayGillett SACENumber:294924R

improvethis,aphotographcouldhavebeentakenandthentheseparationoflinescould
havebeenmeasured.Orasketchofthefullpatterncouldhavebeendrawnratherthanjust
thespots.

Theusedprocedurewasquitesimpleandeasytofollow.Noneededadjustmentsare
neededinthemethodtoimprovetheresults.

Theresultsaremoreaccuratethantheyareprecise.Thecalculateddiameterofthehair
strandisclosertothetruevaluethenitistothecalculatedvalueofthediameterofthewire.
Thereforeitisaccurateasitisclosertothetruevaluethenitistothecalculateddiameterof
thewire.Thisisthesameforthediameterofthewire.Itisclosertothetruevaluethanitis
tothecalculateddiameterforthestrandofhair.Thereforeitismoreaccuratethanitis
precise.

Conclusion
Itwasfoundthatacorrectlydesignedexperimentdidresultinanaccurateapproximationof
thediameterofthemeasuredhumanhair.Howeverwithafewimprovementstothewaythe
requiredmeasurementswererecorded,amoreaccurateapproximationcouldhavebeen
made.Thereforeafterthisinvestigationwascompleted,itwasfoundthatthecalculated
diameterofthehairwastruercomparedtothewire.Thehypothesiswassupportedforthe
reasonthatasthisexperimentwasconductedaptly,adiameterofthehairstrandwasfound.

References
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Feynman,RichardP.RobertB.LeightonMatthewSands(1965).TheFeynmanLectures
onPhysics,Vol.3.US:AddisonWesley.pp.1.11.8.
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0201021188
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Micro.magnet.fsu.edu.Availableat:
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ThePhysicsofLasers.(2016).[online]Www2.hesston.edu.Availableat:
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Lederman,LeonM.ChristopherT.Hill(2011).
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