A wave phenomenon involving waves bending around a barrier.

A wave phenomenon involving waves bending around a barrier.

• A. Diffraction
• B. Scattering
• C. Reflection
• D. Refraction

Answer: (A)

Diffraction is the wave phenomenon where waves bend around barriers or spread through openings. When a wave meets the edge of a barrier, or passes through a narrow gap, it spreads out on the other side rather than continuing in just one direction. This bending and spreading are characteristic of diffraction and can be observed with water waves encountering a breakwater, with sound waves moving around a doorway, or with light passing through a small slit. The other options describe different effects: scattering involves waves being redirected in many directions by particles in a medium; reflection is the bouncing of waves off a surface; refraction is the bending that occurs when waves change speed as they move from one medium to another. None of these capture the spreading and bending around an obstacle in the same way diffraction does.

Diffraction is the wave phenomenon where waves bend around barriers or spread through openings. When a wave meets the edge of a barrier, or passes through a narrow gap, it spreads out on the other side rather than continuing in just one direction. This bending and spreading are characteristic of diffraction and can be observed with water waves encountering a breakwater, with sound waves moving around a doorway, or with light passing through a small slit.

The other options describe different effects: scattering involves waves being redirected in many directions by particles in a medium; reflection is the bouncing of waves off a surface; refraction is the bending that occurs when waves change speed as they move from one medium to another. None of these capture the spreading and bending around an obstacle in the same way diffraction does.