Discussion

The bending or spreading of light through an opening or around an obstacle.

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Goethe "flexibility of light"

Why is it possible to hear around corners, but not see around them?

Diffraction of laser light through a vertical opening of decreasing width. Note that as the opening gets narrower, the amount of diffraction in the horizontal direction increases. (The interference fringes will be dealt with in a later section of this book.) This image sequence is also available as a QuickTime movie.