Question

Explain the construction of a spherical wavefront by using Huygens' principle. 

Hint:

In spherical wavefronts, each point on the wavefront serves as a source for secondary wavelets according to Huygens' principle.

Answer 1

Huygens' principle states that every point on a wavefront acts as a source of secondary spherical wavelets. As these wavelets spread outward, they form a new wavefront. For a spherical wavefront, the wavelets originate from a point source, and as they travel, they create spherical surfaces around the source. The radius of each spherical wavefront expands over time, and the new wavefront is tangent to the wavelets.