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Karnataka Board PUCPUC Science 2nd PUC Class 12

What is the shape of the wavefront on earth for sunlight?

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Question

What is the shape of the wavefront on earth for sunlight?

Short/Brief Note
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Solution

The sun is at very large distance from the earth. Assuming sun is spherical, it can be considered as a point source situated at infinity. We can treat it like a point object as seen from the surface of earth. Because of the large distance, the radius of wavefront can be considered Large (infinity) and hence, wavefront is almost plane.

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Chapter 10: Wave Optics - MCQ I [Page 64]

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NCERT Exemplar Physics Exemplar [English] Class 12
Chapter 10 Wave Optics
MCQ I | Q 10.12 | Page 64

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