One day, after pulling down your window shade, you notice that sunlight is passing through a pinhole in the shade and making a small patch of light on the far wall. Having recently studied optics in your physics class, you're not too surprised to see that the patch of light seems to be a circular diffraction pattern. It appears that the central maximum is about 2 cm across, and you estimate that the distance from the window shade to the wall is about 4 m . Estimate the diameter of the pinhole (in mm). Express your answer using one significant figure.

College Physics
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Chapter1: Units, Trigonometry. And Vectors
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One day, after pulling down your window shade, you notice that sunlight is passing through a pinhole in the shade and making a small patch of light on the far wall. Having recently studied optics in your physics class, you're not too surprised to see that the patch of light seems to be a circular diffraction pattern. It appears that the central maximum is about 2 cm across, and you estimate that the distance from the window shade to the wall is about 4 m .

Estimate the diameter of the pinhole (in mm).
Express your answer using one significant figure.

 

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