Answer:
500 nm
Explanation:
In this problem, we have a diffraction pattern created by light passing through a diffraction grating.
The formula to find a maximum in the pattern produced by a diffraction grating is the following:
[tex]d sin \theta = m\lambda[/tex]
where:
d is the distance between the lines in the grating
[tex]\theta[/tex] is the angle at which the maximum is located
m is the order of the maximum
[tex]\lambda[/tex] is the wavelength of the light used
In this problem we have:
[tex]\theta=30^{\circ}[/tex] is the angle at which is located the 2nd-order bright line, which is the 2nd maximum
n = 5000 lines/cm is the number of lines per centimetre, so the distance between two lines is
[tex]d=\frac{1}{d}=\frac{1}{5000}=2\cdot 10^{-4} cm = 2\cdot 10^{-6} m[/tex]
Re-arranging the equation for [tex]\lambda[/tex], we find the wavelength of the light used:
[tex]\lambda=\frac{d sin \theta}{m}=\frac{(2\cdot 10^{-6})(sin 30^{\circ})}{2}=5\cdot 10^{-7} m = 500 nm[/tex]